Yolande Trueman
Encyclopedia
Yolande Trueman is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Angela Wynter
. The character made her final appearance on 3 October 2008.
on 16 September 2003, as Patrick Trueman
's holiday romance. They had met during Patrick's visit to his homeland of Trinidad
, where the middle-aged couple enjoyed a steamy affair, much the contrary to Yolande's boring marriage to a strict, uptight, and religious
Victor, whose traditional customs included viewing women as objects to bear and raise children.
Before long, Yolande realised that all Patrick wanted was a fling, and prepared to leave the United Kingdom
, but Patrick persuaded her to stay after admitting he had fallen for her. Her husband arrived to take Yolande home, and gave a tempted Patrick £10,000 to allow him to do so. After refusing, Yolande caught Patrick with the money in his hand (he was about to return it), and she got the wrong end of the stick, believing that he had accepted this payment, and left, taking the money with her. After Victor returned to Trinidad, Yolande returned to Walford, sharing the money with Patrick.
They eventually settled down and married
in 2004, ran the bed and breakfast and fostered a little girl. Yolande co-ran Albert Square's shop, the Minute Mart, with Patrick, which he bought as an expansion to their little empire.
The Truemans met grief when Patrick's stepson Paul
went missing at Christmas
2004 after being involved in drug dealing as part of Andy Hunter's scheme. After several weeks of searching, Paul's body was discovered, although the causes and circumstances of his murder
were uncertain. Patrick realised that Andy was involved in this, and set about attempting to avenge the dodgy businessman/gangster
. His prayers were answered when Andy was thrown off a bridge (to his death) by Johnny Allen
, whom he'd tried to rip off.
Yolande was involved in a very minor storyline when she thought her husband Patrick was cheating on her, which resulted in Honey Edwards
' arrival in late November 2005 as a honey trapper to try to fool Patrick. However, Honey mistook Billy Mitchell
for Patrick, so the plan didn't work. The same night, Yolande drenched Patrick with his pint of beer, and then forgave him.
Yolande then struck up a feud with Pat Evans
when she nosed in at Trueman's Motors. Their rivalry took the next step when Pat began an affair with Patrick, but Stacey Slater
, who they had employed at the Minute Mart, caught Pat and Patrick kissing and chose the wedding reception of Joe Macer
and Pauline Fowler
to tell Yolande. This resulted in a brawl in The Queen Vic. Yolande then had a supposed drunken one-night-stand with Aubrey Valentine, one of Patrick's old friends, in October 2006. This resulted in Patrick throwing her out, but when they called Aubrey's bluff, the couple reconciled.
On 4 December, she and Patrick went on holiday to Dorset
, along with the Wicks and Fox families. She then helped Bert Atkinson look after his grandson Jay
after they moved in with the Truemans. Eventually Bert's lazy ways and Jay's trouble making caused her to announce, in fury, that she was kicking the pair out. She forgave them but still insisted they move out and when they did, she helped them settle into their new home.
In September 2008, Patrick accidentally turned off the chiller cabinet at the Minute Mart and then sold unchilled food to customers which gave Dot Branning
(amongst others) food poisoning. The resulting complaints meant a visit from an inspector from the Minute Mart head office. He was so impressed with Yolande's efforts to clean up the shop that she was subsequently offered a job at the Minute Mart HQ in Birmingham
. Yolande accepted with delight and busily prepared for the move, however Patrick was less keen, and when confronted, Patrick indicated that he wanted to stay in Walford.
On 3 October 2008, Yolande left Albert Square for a new life in Birmingham. She surprised everyone at her leaving party by announcing that she was leaving alone. But as Denise and Patrick waved Yolande off at the tube station, Patrick told Yolande that once he sold their house, he would follow her to Birmingham. It was later revealed by Denise on 27 October that Patrick had gone to visit Yolande for the week and see how she was settling in.
Since then, it was revealed that Patrick and Yolande had broken up. On 19 May 2009 Yolande and Patrick received their divorce papers.
(Rudolph Walker
) with Angela Wynter being given the role. Yolande was apparently based on Wynter's deceased sister Merlene. Yolande has been described as assertive with a sassy attitude. Wynter has described the original character outline given to Yolande as "bubbly and positive". Discussing Yolande and Patrick's relationship, Wynter has said that Yolande tamed Patrick "with her charm and her toughness. Yolande's vulnerable, but she's principled. He has the same principles. To please her, he'll try not to stray too far away from those principles".
Following their screen marriage in 2004, the Truemans were invloved in the BBC's "Taking Care" season, which covered issues "surrounding a different kind of childhood". As part of this, scriptwriters decided that the Truemans would foster a 14 year old boy, JJ, following an encounter with him at their Bed and Breakfast. In 2007, executive producer Diederick Santer
used Patrick and Yolande to cover a storyline about racism, that according to the producer, was inspired by the 2007 Celebrity Big Brother
race row, sparked by supposed racist bullying of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty
by UK celebrity Jade Goody
. In the storyline, the characters Jay Brown
and Sean Slater
used racist phrases to the Truemans, and their reaction to the insults. Santer commented, "The Celebrity Big Brother race row kicked off as I took charge of my first scripts. I thought it was fascinating because it showed there was a real need for a debate about race in Britain. [Big Brother] didn’t do it particularly well, so I thought it could be something EastEnders should do. Our stuff won’t be overly moralistic or preachy but it will tackle this serious issue head on."
as her husband Patrick Trueman
would not reignite his romance with Pat Evans
after her departure, as; "Patrick and Yolande’s marriage is the only representation of a black union on British TV, which I am very proud to have played." Wynter also suggested that the decision to write out her character may have come because the soap was currently exceeding its 'quota' for black and Asian characters, surmising: "If this is true, I am not hurt because I accept that fact that I live in England and it is not ‘our’ TV station where we can be over-weighted with black or Asian actors and have guest appearances from Caucasian actors – because ‘we’ are the guest".
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 Angela Wynter
Angela Wynter
Angela Wynter is a British actress. She is probably most famous for playing the character of Yolande Trueman in the soap opera EastEnders first appearing on 16 October 2003 to her last appearance on 3 October 2008. She based the character on her late sister Merlene and played a similar character...
. The character made her final appearance on 3 October 2008.
Storylines
Yolande arrived in Albert SquareAlbert Square
Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. The square's design was based on the real life Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after the real...
on 16 September 2003, as Patrick Trueman
Patrick Trueman
Patrick Neville Loftus Alfonso Trueman is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Rudolph Walker. He made his first appearance on 13 September 2001.-Backstory:...
's holiday romance. They had met during Patrick's visit to his homeland of Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, where the middle-aged couple enjoyed a steamy affair, much the contrary to Yolande's boring marriage to a strict, uptight, and religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
Victor, whose traditional customs included viewing women as objects to bear and raise children.
Before long, Yolande realised that all Patrick wanted was a fling, and prepared to leave the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, but Patrick persuaded her to stay after admitting he had fallen for her. Her husband arrived to take Yolande home, and gave a tempted Patrick £10,000 to allow him to do so. After refusing, Yolande caught Patrick with the money in his hand (he was about to return it), and she got the wrong end of the stick, believing that he had accepted this payment, and left, taking the money with her. After Victor returned to Trinidad, Yolande returned to Walford, sharing the money with Patrick.
They eventually settled down and married
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
in 2004, ran the bed and breakfast and fostered a little girl. Yolande co-ran Albert Square's shop, the Minute Mart, with Patrick, which he bought as an expansion to their little empire.
Paul Trueman
Paul Trueman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gary Beadle between 2001 and 2004. Gary was introduced as part of the already established Trueman family. He was portrayed as a bad boy. Beadle left the role in 2004, following a suspension, reportedly for failing...
went missing at Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
2004 after being involved in drug dealing as part of Andy Hunter's scheme. After several weeks of searching, Paul's body was discovered, although the causes and circumstances of his murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
were uncertain. Patrick realised that Andy was involved in this, and set about attempting to avenge the dodgy businessman/gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
. His prayers were answered when Andy was thrown off a bridge (to his death) by Johnny Allen
Johnny Allen (EastEnders)
Jonathan "Johnny" Allen is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Billy Murray.-Storylines:Johnny Allen was a businessman and retired gangster, who grew up in Walford but moved away to start up an empire of his own which he named J.A. Enterprises...
, whom he'd tried to rip off.
Yolande was involved in a very minor storyline when she thought her husband Patrick was cheating on her, which resulted in Honey Edwards
Honey Mitchell
Susan "Honey" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Emma Barton. She made her first appearance in the show on 22 November 2005. It was reported on 19 April 2008 that she had been axed from EastEnders, and her last appearance was on 2 September 2008...
' arrival in late November 2005 as a honey trapper to try to fool Patrick. However, Honey mistook Billy Mitchell
Billy Mitchell (EastEnders)
William "Billy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Perry Fenwick, who made his first appearance on 2 November 1998. Billy was seen when Phil went to visit his godson Jamie. However, he didn't arrive in the Square until 2 August 1999, almost a year after...
for Patrick, so the plan didn't work. The same night, Yolande drenched Patrick with his pint of beer, and then forgave him.
Yolande then struck up a feud with Pat Evans
Pat Evans
Patricia Louise "Pat" Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She has been played by Pam St. Clement since 12 June 1986, just over a year after the show first aired...
when she nosed in at Trueman's Motors. Their rivalry took the next step when Pat began an affair with Patrick, but Stacey Slater
Stacey Slater
Stacey Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lacey Turner. She made her first appearance on 1 November 2004. The character was introduced as a feisty and troublesome teenager, an extension of the already established Slater clan...
, who they had employed at the Minute Mart, caught Pat and Patrick kissing and chose the wedding reception of Joe Macer
Joe Macer
Joseph "Joe" Macer is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Ray Brooks. He made his first appearance on 19 August 2005 and left the show on 26 January 2007.-Storylines:...
and Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional London borough of Walford. She was played by actress Wendy Richard between 1985 and 2006. Pauline was created by scriptwriter Tony Holland and producer...
to tell Yolande. This resulted in a brawl in The Queen Vic. Yolande then had a supposed drunken one-night-stand with Aubrey Valentine, one of Patrick's old friends, in October 2006. This resulted in Patrick throwing her out, but when they called Aubrey's bluff, the couple reconciled.
On 4 December, she and Patrick went on holiday to Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, along with the Wicks and Fox families. She then helped Bert Atkinson look after his grandson Jay
Jay Brown
James "Jay" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jamie Borthwick. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 14 December 2006.-Backstory:...
after they moved in with the Truemans. Eventually Bert's lazy ways and Jay's trouble making caused her to announce, in fury, that she was kicking the pair out. She forgave them but still insisted they move out and when they did, she helped them settle into their new home.
In September 2008, Patrick accidentally turned off the chiller cabinet at the Minute Mart and then sold unchilled food to customers which gave Dot Branning
Dot Branning
Dorothy "Dot" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by June Brown since 1985. In a special episode entitled EastEnders: Dot's Story a young Dot was played by Tallulah Pitt-Brown in flashbacks. Dot first appeared in EastEnders in July 1985 as the mother of...
(amongst others) food poisoning. The resulting complaints meant a visit from an inspector from the Minute Mart head office. He was so impressed with Yolande's efforts to clean up the shop that she was subsequently offered a job at the Minute Mart HQ in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. Yolande accepted with delight and busily prepared for the move, however Patrick was less keen, and when confronted, Patrick indicated that he wanted to stay in Walford.
On 3 October 2008, Yolande left Albert Square for a new life in Birmingham. She surprised everyone at her leaving party by announcing that she was leaving alone. But as Denise and Patrick waved Yolande off at the tube station, Patrick told Yolande that once he sold their house, he would follow her to Birmingham. It was later revealed by Denise on 27 October that Patrick had gone to visit Yolande for the week and see how she was settling in.
Since then, it was revealed that Patrick and Yolande had broken up. On 19 May 2009 Yolande and Patrick received their divorce papers.
Development
Yolande was introduced in 2003 as a love interest for Patrick TruemanPatrick Trueman
Patrick Neville Loftus Alfonso Trueman is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Rudolph Walker. He made his first appearance on 13 September 2001.-Backstory:...
(Rudolph Walker
Rudolph Walker
Rudolph Walker, OBE is a British character actor. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Walker came to the United Kingdom in 1960....
) with Angela Wynter being given the role. Yolande was apparently based on Wynter's deceased sister Merlene. Yolande has been described as assertive with a sassy attitude. Wynter has described the original character outline given to Yolande as "bubbly and positive". Discussing Yolande and Patrick's relationship, Wynter has said that Yolande tamed Patrick "with her charm and her toughness. Yolande's vulnerable, but she's principled. He has the same principles. To please her, he'll try not to stray too far away from those principles".
Following their screen marriage in 2004, the Truemans were invloved in the BBC's "Taking Care" season, which covered issues "surrounding a different kind of childhood". As part of this, scriptwriters decided that the Truemans would foster a 14 year old boy, JJ, following an encounter with him at their Bed and Breakfast. In 2007, executive producer Diederick Santer
Diederick 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...
used Patrick and Yolande to cover a storyline about racism, that according to the producer, was inspired by the 2007 Celebrity Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (UK)
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 was the highly controversial fifth series of the United Kingdom reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off of Big Brother. The series was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK , and involved a number of celebrities referred to as 'housemates', who live in the...
race row, sparked by supposed racist bullying of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar , she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been...
by UK celebrity Jade Goody
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was an English celebrity. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV programme Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction from...
. In the storyline, the characters Jay Brown
Jay Brown
James "Jay" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jamie Borthwick. He made his first appearance during the episode broadcast on 14 December 2006.-Backstory:...
and Sean Slater
Sean Slater
Sean Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Robert Kazinsky. Sean left the Square temporarily on 27 March 2007, as Kazinsky was suspended from work for two months. He returned on 28 May 2007...
used racist phrases to the Truemans, and their reaction to the insults. Santer commented, "The Celebrity Big Brother race row kicked off as I took charge of my first scripts. I thought it was fascinating because it showed there was a real need for a debate about race in Britain. [Big Brother] didn’t do it particularly well, so I thought it could be something EastEnders should do. Our stuff won’t be overly moralistic or preachy but it will tackle this serious issue head on."
Departure
On 29 June 2008, it was announced that Wynter would leave EastEnders later in the year, after the show's producers claimed to have "run out of storyline ideas" for her character. Wynter said of the decision: "I’m not unhappy to leave EastEnders because life is about changes and new beginnings, but I am unhappy about the producers reasoning in how they came to their decision because you can always write stories for people to act" She stated that her character would not be killed off, and her hope that Rudolph WalkerRudolph Walker
Rudolph Walker, OBE is a British character actor. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Walker came to the United Kingdom in 1960....
as her husband Patrick Trueman
Patrick Trueman
Patrick Neville Loftus Alfonso Trueman is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Rudolph Walker. He made his first appearance on 13 September 2001.-Backstory:...
would not reignite his romance with Pat Evans
Pat Evans
Patricia Louise "Pat" Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She has been played by Pam St. Clement since 12 June 1986, just over a year after the show first aired...
after her departure, as; "Patrick and Yolande’s marriage is the only representation of a black union on British TV, which I am very proud to have played." Wynter also suggested that the decision to write out her character may have come because the soap was currently exceeding its 'quota' for black and Asian characters, surmising: "If this is true, I am not hurt because I accept that fact that I live in England and it is not ‘our’ TV station where we can be over-weighted with black or Asian actors and have guest appearances from Caucasian actors – because ‘we’ are the guest".