Tiffany Butcher

Tiffany Butcher^[1] (née Dean) is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, played by Maisie Smith.^[2]

In November 2007, it was announced that Patsy Palmer would be reprising her role as Bianca Jackson in EastEnders. A popular character who originally appeared in the serial between 1993 and 1999, Bianca was reintroduced in April 2008. Along with Bianca came four children, three of whom had not been seen in the serial before. They included Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), the sixteen-year-old daughter of Bianca's deceased partner; Liam Butcher (James Forde), Bianca and Ricky's son who previously appeared in the serial; Tiffany Dean (Maisie Smith), Bianca's five-year-old daughter, named after her friend Tiffany Mitchell; and Morgan Jackson-King (Devon Higgs), Bianca's two-year-old son, "the most [spoilt] out of all of the kids".^[3]

Tiffany is described as having a "cute, butter-wouldn’t-melt exterior", which "masks her somewhat mature understanding of adult matters. She sees all, hears all and knows all, and even at five years old has blackmailed her elder sister."^[2] She is also described as "a troublesome and cheeky lass" with a "feisty, red-head personality, which she no doubt inherits from screenmum Bianca".^[4] Actress Maisie Smith, aged 6 at the time of her casting, began filming for EastEnders four days a week from January 2008 and, according to her mother, shares traits with the character she plays: "The role is an exaggeration of her own personality, she's a little madam. A lively character both on and off screen. The difference is, she's told to pronounce her t's at home!"^[4]

To promote the family's introduction, the BBC began airing trailers across the BBC network in March 2008. One trailer saw Bianca singing The Jackson 5 hit "I Want You Back" and performing a dance routine along with her four children. The promo uses the tag line "Introducing The Jackson 5".^[5] Within three days of being posted on the video sharing website YouTube, the promo had been viewed 52,000 times.^[6]

Tiffany is the product of a one-night stand between Ricky Butcher and Bianca Jackson, which was shown on their spin-off show Ricky & Bianca set in Manchester, in 2002. After Bianca left their son Liam Butcher with Ricky, she began a relationship with trucker Nathan Dean before discovering that she was pregnant. Nathan died in a road accident when Bianca was heavily pregnant and took on Nathan's daughter Whitney. She gave birth to Tiffany, whom she named after her deceased best friend Tiffany Mitchell, and raised her as the daughter of her late partner Nathan and half-sister to Whitney. Tiffany grew up believing Nathan was her father.

Tiffany is first seen when she, her mother and siblings Whitney, Liam and Morgan are being evicted from their flat for not paying rent. After spending the night in a bus shelter, Tiffany and her half-siblings are taken into care after Bianca assaults an enquiring police officer. They spend a week in care before being sent to Walford where Bianca has moved in with her grandmother, Pat Evans.

A mischievous child, Tiffany causes havoc by stealing a top from Stacey Slater's stall for Whitney to wear for a family party and defacing the pavement outside Zainab Masood's house before ruining her primroses by pouring soapy water over them. As a result, Tiffany unwittingly instigates feuds between her mother, Stacey and Zainab. However, she takes to her mother's cousins Bradley and Abi, sharing a common interest in animals.

Tiffany's love of animals leads to Whitney begging Vinnie Monks to give them Wellard, formerly the Jackson family dog that had been sold to Vinnie after his previous owner Gus Smith left Walford. Vinnie gives Tiffany Wellard on the condition that Whitney and Liam washe his car every day until he says otherwise. However, tragedy strikes when Wellard has to be euthanised. Tiffany is devastated, and after overhearing a phone conversation, she is convinced that her great-uncle Ian Beale is behind Wellard's demise. However a post-mortem leads to the discovery that Bianca was responsible for Wellard's death because she gave him chocolate. Tiffany eventually forgives her mother after Bianca convinces Pat to give them her dog Terrence. However Tiffany is once again left devastated when her aunt Janine Butcher spitefully reclaims Terrence, who was originally her dog.

Tiffany takes to her mother's ex-husband Ricky Butcher, who is also living at Pat's house. Ricky grows fond of Tiffany and, on seeing how close they are becoming, Bianca tries to write Ricky a letter explaining that he could be Tiffany's father, which gets stuck to a picture that Tiffany has drawn to give to Ricky. When Ricky reads the letter he asks for a DNA test and a week later they discover that Tiffany is his daughter. They decide not to tell the family so as not to upset Whitney, who now has no biological family left.

After Tiffany is left in Janine's care, Janine ropes her into one of her schemes when a rich single father wants to buy her sports car. Janine pretends that Tiffany is her daughter and arranges a play-date, only for Bianca to see Tiffany get into the car alone with the stranger. Ricky is furious with Janine and when she questions his loyalty towards Bianca and her children, he tells her the truth. Janine is sworn to secrecy, and begins to bond with her niece.

Janine enters Tiffany in a children's talent contest, telling her to think of Wellard's death to make herself cry and gain sympathy from the judges. Tiffany hears Ricky singing The Prodigy's "Firestarter" and he teaches her the song, which she performs in the contests, which she goes on to win.

Tiffany is bullied by Bobby Beale. Whitney advises her to bully him back, but this only makes things worse. Whitney shouts at Ricky and Bianca for not protecting her and tells Ricky that Tiffany is her sister. This makes Ricky angry and he is fed up of lying about Tiffany's true paternity. He tells Bianca that once Tony King's trial is over, he will come clean about Tiffany's paternity. When Tiffany breaks Whitney's phone and shouts at her, Ricky and Whitney get into an argument. Whitney tells Ricky to leave her and Tiffany alone as she is nothing to do with him, but he reveals that Tiffany is his daughter. Whitney begins to ignore Tiffany so Bianca and Ricky tell her the truth and she is happy. After Whitney gives evidence at Tony's trial, she says she is still Whitney's sister and they hug. On Christmas Eve, Tiffany reads out a letter to Santa, wishing him to bring happiness to Whitney. Bianca later sees the letter, seeing that Tiffany wishes her mother and father to get married. Bianca and Ricky get engaged to Tiffany's delight.

When Dotty Cotton has a birthday party, Tiffany refuses to go, asking Ricky to lie for her. The next day, Tiffany tells Dotty she is not invited to her birthday party, but Bianca later invites her. On Tiffany's birthday, she stays at home without her parents knowing with Dotty. After an argument, Dotty runs off with Tiffany's bridesmaid's dress and throws her MP3 player into a bin. When Tiffany cannot reach to get it out, Dotty pushes her in and flees. Tiffany's uncle Billie Jackson saves her from being crushed by the dustbin lorry.

Digital Spy's Kris Green has said Maisie Smith is "brilliant" and "one...to watch", comparing her to Ellis Hollins, the award-winning child actor who plays Tom Cunningham in the Channel 4 teen soap opera Hollyoaks.^[7] She has also been praised by stage school teacher Sandra Singer, who said: "Maisie has the most incredible memory and when it comes to script work she is fantastic. It is often very difficult for a six-year-old to act, but she handles it really well and adores it."^[4] In May 2009 Smith won Best Dramatic Performance from a young actor or actress at the British Soap Awards.

• Tiffany Butcher at BBC Online