Dr. May Wright
Encyclopedia
Dr. May Wright is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
. Played by Amanda Drew
, May first appeared on 25 September 2006. She left the show on 25 June 2007 but returned on 6 June 2008. She departed again on 18 June 2008, when Amanda's character was killed off. Her storylines saw the breakdown of her marriage to Rob Minter
, and attempted kidnap of Summer Swann, daughter of Rob and Dawn Swann
, all of which led to her eventual death caused by a gas explosion.
who is dating with Dawn Swann
.
May and Rob are separated when Rob starts dating Dawn but ends it when May asks him to give their marriage another go and they are trying for a baby by IVF. May reveals she miscarried at six weeks before discovering Dawn is expecting Rob's baby and that her fertility treatment is unsuccessful. The doctor tells May that she is not ovulating and therefore unlikely to conceive.
Desperate for Rob's baby, May offers Dawn £10,000 to go ahead with the pregnancy and Dawn agrees. However, May and Rob plan to con Dawn by claiming he loves her and suggest they raise the baby together. Rob leaves May for real, filing for divorce when her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and irrational. May reacts by taking pills intended for patients but when challenged, accuses nurse Naomi Julien
of stealing the pills and forces her to leave the Square.
May seduces Rob and they reconcile. Lulling Dawn into a false sense of security, Rob proposes and she accepts. He takes her to his parents' house, where May is waiting. Rob restrains Dawn while May drugs her and threatens to perform a caesarean if Dawn does not co-operate. Dawn manages to escape to Walford, to May's fury but doesn't stay, knowing Rob will come looking for her, Dawn leaves for the Cotswolds. However, she goes into labour on the tube, naming her daughter Summer. Dawn tells the hospital not to admit Rob but May tells the hospital staff that she is Dawn's GP and wants to leave a card for her, planning to take Summer when she leaves but Dawn wakes up. May asks Dawn to let her take the baby, doubling her original offer, but Dawn refuses so May leaves alone. May later visits Dawn, asking to see Summer and offering her the toys and baby clothes she had collected during Dawn's pregnancy. Dawn calls the police and allows May to see Summer until the police arrived. She is arrested on suspicion of kidnap.
, to decorate her house. She asks him about Summer and he asks if she will babysit Summer to which she agrees. On the day she is supposed to babysit, Jase arrives alone, claiming Summer has teething problems and he has to leave her with Dawn. May is so distraught that she runs out of the house in tears.
The next day, Jase finds May unconscious with an empty vodka bottle. She explains to him that she lost her baby but she is with another family. Jase says she needs to see her child. May goes to Jase and Dawn's house with a gift for Summer. When May is alone with Summer, she whispers goodbye to her and says she loves her. May then decides that Dawn and Jase aren't coping as parents. Dawn gets back and May sneaks out.
She returns on Summer's birthday, when she confronts and scares Dawn, infiltrates the Millers' home and knocks Dawn's brother Mickey
out with a crowbar. She locks herself, Dawn and Summer in a bedroom, breaking down and confessing she and Rob are now divorced, he is engaged to someone else and they are expecting a baby, and the police and medical authorities decided not to press charges against May, realising she was ill. She was struck off and sectioned, spending time in a psychiatric hospital. She didn't take her treatment seriously, telling the doctors what they wanted to hear so she would be released.
Dawn tries to leave but May grabs her and tears ligaments in her foot, giving Dawn medical advice as a form of taunting, continuing on from an earlier taunt claiming that Dawn cannot look after Summer properly, after discovering she applied fake suntan lotion to her for a baby beauty contest. This leads her to further taunt Dawn, by implying that she will possibly get a tattoo
for Summer's 18th birthday. May grabs Summer, calling her Sophie, and begins packing Summer's things, but Dawn distracts her and Mickey throws her out of the bedroom, locking the door after her. May tries to smash the door down, but finding this impossible, goes downstairs and opens the music box she had brought for Summer. She turns on the gas, lights a cigarette causing an explosion and instantly dies.
, to learn the structure of May's daily routine. She read up on IVF
, consulting people who had undergone the procedure to gain insight into May's state of mind.
In May 2007, the ending of the storyline was rewritten due to similarities to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
on 3 May. In the original scripts, May would abduct Dawn's baby soon after the birth but the plot was pulled, releasing a statement saying: "EastEnders has made the decision to substantially rewrite the storyline featuring Dawn Swann and Dr May Wright due to events surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. In the current circumstances it was felt any storyline including a child abduction would be inappropriate and could cause distress to our viewers." Drew expressed some dissatisfaction with the rewrite, stating that; "I think the ending that was originally planned was probably more shocking and perhaps more dramatically engaging", while conceding that "there was a part of me that was relieved on a personal level that I wouldn't be walking around the streets of London with people heckling me".
said: "It's great to have Amanda back. May is a hugely popular character. I'm sure viewers will be keen to see what she gets up to and how she's changed."
Drew has discussed how the change in May since her absence was reflected in the character's appearance, explaining: "she used to be very professionally turned out and well-dressed when working as a GP. The May we now see is very different. She is dowdy and I don’t think she has had a haircut for ages. She doesn’t seem to be caring for her appearance and it shows."
She deemed her return storyline: "Fantastic, very exciting and I think the writers have really brought out the complexity of May. They understand her well and have written her character in a rounded way."
, was critical of Drew's performance as May. Discussing the character's exit, he deemed that Drew's "extreme over-acting" and "OTT guttural sobbing turned manic May into a comical, rather than frightening character."
Radio Times
included May on their feature on bunny boilers. Describing her they stated: "A prime example of a sexist stereotype: a woman driven beyond distraction by her frustrated desire to be a mother."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
. Played by Amanda Drew
Amanda Drew
Amanda Drew is a British actress. Drew is best known for her role as the psychotic Dr. May Wright in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Biography:...
, May first appeared on 25 September 2006. She left the show on 25 June 2007 but returned on 6 June 2008. She departed again on 18 June 2008, when Amanda's character was killed off. Her storylines saw the breakdown of her marriage to Rob Minter
Rob Minter
Robert "Rob" Minter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Stuart Laing. He made his first appearance on 21 June 2006...
, and attempted kidnap of Summer Swann, daughter of Rob and Dawn Swann
Dawn Swann
Dawn Roxanna Swann is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Kara Tointon, who first appeared on 26 September 2005...
, all of which led to her eventual death caused by a gas explosion.
2006–2007
May arrives in Walford, taking over from Dr. Oliver Cousins as GP. Several weeks later, it is revealed she is married to Rob MinterRob Minter
Robert "Rob" Minter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Stuart Laing. He made his first appearance on 21 June 2006...
who is dating with Dawn Swann
Dawn Swann
Dawn Roxanna Swann is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Kara Tointon, who first appeared on 26 September 2005...
.
May and Rob are separated when Rob starts dating Dawn but ends it when May asks him to give their marriage another go and they are trying for a baby by IVF. May reveals she miscarried at six weeks before discovering Dawn is expecting Rob's baby and that her fertility treatment is unsuccessful. The doctor tells May that she is not ovulating and therefore unlikely to conceive.
Desperate for Rob's baby, May offers Dawn £10,000 to go ahead with the pregnancy and Dawn agrees. However, May and Rob plan to con Dawn by claiming he loves her and suggest they raise the baby together. Rob leaves May for real, filing for divorce when her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and irrational. May reacts by taking pills intended for patients but when challenged, accuses nurse Naomi Julien
Naomi Julien
Naomi Julien is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Petra Letang. She first appeared in the show in the episode broadcast on 15 August 2005. The character was axed in January 2007 and her final scenes were broadcast on 24 May 2007...
of stealing the pills and forces her to leave the Square.
May seduces Rob and they reconcile. Lulling Dawn into a false sense of security, Rob proposes and she accepts. He takes her to his parents' house, where May is waiting. Rob restrains Dawn while May drugs her and threatens to perform a caesarean if Dawn does not co-operate. Dawn manages to escape to Walford, to May's fury but doesn't stay, knowing Rob will come looking for her, Dawn leaves for the Cotswolds. However, she goes into labour on the tube, naming her daughter Summer. Dawn tells the hospital not to admit Rob but May tells the hospital staff that she is Dawn's GP and wants to leave a card for her, planning to take Summer when she leaves but Dawn wakes up. May asks Dawn to let her take the baby, doubling her original offer, but Dawn refuses so May leaves alone. May later visits Dawn, asking to see Summer and offering her the toys and baby clothes she had collected during Dawn's pregnancy. Dawn calls the police and allows May to see Summer until the police arrived. She is arrested on suspicion of kidnap.
2008
May returns, using a false name, and hires Dawn's fiance, Jase DyerJase Dyer
Jason "Jase" Dyer is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Stephen Lord between 2007 and 2008. The character was killed off in the serial, making his final credited appearance on 29 August 2008.-Storylines:...
, to decorate her house. She asks him about Summer and he asks if she will babysit Summer to which she agrees. On the day she is supposed to babysit, Jase arrives alone, claiming Summer has teething problems and he has to leave her with Dawn. May is so distraught that she runs out of the house in tears.
The next day, Jase finds May unconscious with an empty vodka bottle. She explains to him that she lost her baby but she is with another family. Jase says she needs to see her child. May goes to Jase and Dawn's house with a gift for Summer. When May is alone with Summer, she whispers goodbye to her and says she loves her. May then decides that Dawn and Jase aren't coping as parents. Dawn gets back and May sneaks out.
She returns on Summer's birthday, when she confronts and scares Dawn, infiltrates the Millers' home and knocks Dawn's brother Mickey
Mickey Miller
Michael "Mickey" Miller is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Joe Swash. He made his first appearance on 15 April 2003. Introduced as a guest character, Mickey proved popular and was turned into a regular by executive producer Louise Berridge. The character is...
out with a crowbar. She locks herself, Dawn and Summer in a bedroom, breaking down and confessing she and Rob are now divorced, he is engaged to someone else and they are expecting a baby, and the police and medical authorities decided not to press charges against May, realising she was ill. She was struck off and sectioned, spending time in a psychiatric hospital. She didn't take her treatment seriously, telling the doctors what they wanted to hear so she would be released.
Dawn tries to leave but May grabs her and tears ligaments in her foot, giving Dawn medical advice as a form of taunting, continuing on from an earlier taunt claiming that Dawn cannot look after Summer properly, after discovering she applied fake suntan lotion to her for a baby beauty contest. This leads her to further taunt Dawn, by implying that she will possibly get a tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
for Summer's 18th birthday. May grabs Summer, calling her Sophie, and begins packing Summer's things, but Dawn distracts her and Mickey throws her out of the bedroom, locking the door after her. May tries to smash the door down, but finding this impossible, goes downstairs and opens the music box she had brought for Summer. She turns on the gas, lights a cigarette causing an explosion and instantly dies.
Creation
In preparing for her role as May, Amanda Drew met a female GPGeneral practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
, to learn the structure of May's daily routine. She read up on IVF
In vitro fertilisation
In vitro fertilisation is a process by which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the body: in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed...
, consulting people who had undergone the procedure to gain insight into May's state of mind.
Personality
May's "deranged" personality earned her the nickname "Mad May" from the media. Amanda described the role as "a gift of a role for any actor because of her complexity." Commenting on the initial development of May's personality and motivations, Amanda explained: "When I initially met the producer and the storyline editor, we worked on May's characteristics and we created a 'super objective' for her - to fix things; which is why she became a doctor. She wants to help people and make everything right. So, in her personal life, if her 'super objective' is to fix things, then if a situation occurs where she can take control and sort it out, she will. But obviously under the influence of this emotional distress, she's following her 'super objective' to such a degree that she's acting out of all reason, away from her normal rational self and choosing to adopt the love child of her husband and his mistress. Anyone in their right mind would say 'that's crazy, that's never going to work'. Because of where she was when this situation hit her, those are the choices she made at the time. Unfortunately, because she is a driven woman, instead of doing a U-turn, she sets her sights on something and will pursue it.""Summergate"
Discussing her early storyline, in which May and Rob conspired to steal Dawn's baby, Drew stated that the character's relationship with her husband was "fairly ambiguous", commenting that; "it was even difficult for us as actors to decide how clear it was going to come across."In May 2007, the ending of the storyline was rewritten due to similarities to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Madeleine McCann disappeared on the evening of Thursday, 3 May 2007. She was on holiday with her parents and twin siblings in the Algarve region of Portugal. The British girl went missing from an apartment, in the central area of the resort of Praia da Luz, a few days before her fourth...
on 3 May. In the original scripts, May would abduct Dawn's baby soon after the birth but the plot was pulled, releasing a statement saying: "EastEnders has made the decision to substantially rewrite the storyline featuring Dawn Swann and Dr May Wright due to events surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. In the current circumstances it was felt any storyline including a child abduction would be inappropriate and could cause distress to our viewers." Drew expressed some dissatisfaction with the rewrite, stating that; "I think the ending that was originally planned was probably more shocking and perhaps more dramatically engaging", while conceding that "there was a part of me that was relieved on a personal level that I wouldn't be walking around the streets of London with people heckling me".
Return
Of her return to EastEnders, Drew stated: "I'm so excited to be playing her again. It'd be a shame to give too much away, but she has changed in many ways." Executive producer Diederick SanterDiederick Santer
Diederick Santer is a British television producer and is best known for his work on the popular BBC television soap opera EastEnders, a post which he assumed on 23 October 2006 and left on 1 March 2010...
said: "It's great to have Amanda back. May is a hugely popular character. I'm sure viewers will be keen to see what she gets up to and how she's changed."
Drew has discussed how the change in May since her absence was reflected in the character's appearance, explaining: "she used to be very professionally turned out and well-dressed when working as a GP. The May we now see is very different. She is dowdy and I don’t think she has had a haircut for ages. She doesn’t seem to be caring for her appearance and it shows."
She deemed her return storyline: "Fantastic, very exciting and I think the writers have really brought out the complexity of May. They understand her well and have written her character in a rounded way."
Reception
Kevin O'Sullivan, writing for the Sunday MirrorSunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...
, was critical of Drew's performance as May. Discussing the character's exit, he deemed that Drew's "extreme over-acting" and "OTT guttural sobbing turned manic May into a comical, rather than frightening character."
Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
included May on their feature on bunny boilers. Describing her they stated: "A prime example of a sexist stereotype: a woman driven beyond distraction by her frustrated desire to be a mother."