Ali Osman
Encyclopedia
Ali Osman is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Nejdet Salih. He was a member of the original EastEnders cast, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985. He remained with the show for nearly five years afterwards, making his final appearance on 10 October 1989. Ali was scripted as happy-go-lucky, which was in stark contrast to his highly strung wife, Sue
. Central to his storylines were his penchant for gambling
, his tempestuous marriage, and the loss of his son to cot death, which was one of the first controversial storylines covered by the soap. He was created by Julia Smith
and Tony Holland
, the creators of EastEnders.
) moved to London
in 1975. Ali was the first known owner of the Bridge Street Café in Walford
, which he leased and ran together with his English wife Sue
, whom he married in 1982. Their son Hassan was born in 1984.
. He frequently holds games of poker
in the café after closing time and wages bets at the bookies - a huge source of concern for Sue. Ali rashly decides to wager his business on a bet in 1985 and wins a substantial amount of money. The Osmans are overjoyed, however the next day disaster strikes when baby Hassan dies of cot death. Ali and Sue spend months coming to terms with their son's death. The marriage is tested further when they try for another baby. When Sue does not conceive, Ali fears he is impotent and questions his masculinity, resulting in him attempting to seduce other women; the desperation for a baby causes continual marital problems until Sue finally falls pregnant again in 1987. Their second son named Ali (after his father) is born in 1988.
When Sue begins to tire of life in Walford, Ali tries to get funds together to facilitate their move. In doing so, he runs up huge gambling debts to Joanne Francis
, manageress of Strokes wine bar, also a member of the criminal underworld known as The Firm. Desperate for money to hide his losses from Sue, Ali turns to his café employee, Ian Beale
, for a loan. Ian charges him 10 percent interest. Ali continues to gamble, struggling to repay Ian, until he manages to win. Pleased with himself, Ali's boasting catches the attention of Donna Ludlow
; she seduces Ali and after they have sex, Donna blackmail
s Ali, threatening to tell Sue unless he pays her. Ali pays, but the truth comes out nevertheless when Donna informs Sue in retaliation to an insult. A devastated Sue turns to Mehmet for comfort and, in a bid for revenge, she kisses him in front of Ali. Thinking that his brother has been sleeping with his wife, Ali attacks Mehmet and banishes him from his life and after much rowing, Sue flees with Little Ali without informing her husband where she is going. Ali searches for Sue to no avail, but eventually finds her visiting Hassan's grave and snatches Little Ali back. Upon losing her son, Sue becomes deranged and is sectioned.
Now a single father, Ali struggles to keep his businesses afloat. He cannot afford the rent increase and attempts an insurance scam by torching his cafe, which is witnessed by Ian. Ian uses the situation to his advantage, forcing Ali to relinquish ownership of the cafe to him, sparking a feud between the pair when a scorned Ali refrains from informing Ian that all the kitchen utilities had been bought via Hire Purchase and they are subsequently repossessed.
Ali continues to struggle with juggling his work and parental responsibilities. He is forced to resign from working at Frank Butcher
's car-lot when he discovers his child-minder is neglecting his son. He takes up mini-cabbying, but when his car is stolen he is unable to continue working. Unemployed, Ali is forced to allow his parents to take care of his son outside Walford. With no money, Ali attends a game of poker but loses to his landlord Alan McIntyre, whom Ali had feuded with since 1987. As a result, Ali is evicted from his flat when he is unable to pay his debts to Alan. In a fury, Ali smashes up the flat with a crowbar
, breaking all the windows and doors, until his family turn up and send him to Northern Cyprus with his son in October 1989.
and Julia Smith
. Ali, a Turkish Cypriot, was originally intended to be named Chris. His name was changed to Ali when it dawned on Holland that he had given a Christian
name to a Muslim
. Ali was a well-intentioned attempt to represent the proportion of Turkish Cypriots who had immigrated to England and settled in the East End of London
. Holland and Smith knew that for the soap to succeed there needed to be a varied group of characters, so that several different sections of the audience had someone to identify with. Additionally, if the programme was to be realistic, it had to reflect the cross-section of society that actually existed in the real location. For these reasons, different sexes, ages, classes, religions and races were all included in the original character line-up. Both Holland and Smith had been at the forefront of the move towards 'integrated casting' in television and had encountered an array of ethnic diversities in the process. Even though the ethnic minority groups were deemed the hardest to research, Holland and Smith called upon their contacts to relay information about their origins and lifestyles and were then able to portray Walford's most recent immigrants more realistically.
Ali's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story
. In this passage Ali is referred to as "Chris".
The casting of Ali was a huge problem for Holland and Smith. During that time in the 80s only three Turkish-speaking actors could be located in London, and one of those was considered unsuitable. The other two, Haluk Bilginer
and Nejdet Salih, were possibilities. Deciding which to cast caused major rows between Holland and Smith. Holland favoured Bilginer as he looked the part. He felt Salih did not have the physical presence needed and also believed that Sandy Ratcliff
(the actress playing his on-screen wife) would "make mincemeat out of him". Smith disagreed. As Salih was actually Turkish Cypriot (whilst Bilginer was Turkish) she felt he would have actual knowledge to bring to the character and wouldn't have to act the part as "he was the part". He also lived in the East End, as did his large family. To resolve the conflict both actors were given readings with Sandy Ratcliff and Salih eventually won the role following a cheeky, sexist remark aimed at Ratcliff and her tardy time-keeping. Both Holland and Smith felt this typified the character perfectly. Ironically, both actors eventually featured in the series, as Bilinger was brought back to take on the role of Ali's older brother.
Peter Batt, one of EastEnders original scriptwriters, has alleged that he created the character of Ali, and that he was based on himself: "a lunatic fucking gambler".
, Vicki Fowler
and Hassan. It was decided that it would be impossible for the studios to cope with four babies, and so they invented a storyline to eliminate one of the young babies from the cast. During this time in the 1980s, the issue of cot death
was extremely prominent in the British press, partly due to an increase in casualties, but also because a doctor had gone public with the accusation that parents were to blame for the tragic occurrence. Holland and Smith decided that covering this subject in the soap would be a good way of 'setting the record straight', and so it was decided that Sue and Ali's baby would die from cot death in the early months of the show. This was the first of many controversial storylines in EastEnders history. After the storyline aired in June 1985, the show was praised by audience and press alike for the sensitive and unsensational way this harrowing subject was treated. The sudden tragedy came as a surprise to the audience, especially since the bereaved parents were a couple whose feuding, fighting ways had made them appear rather comic in the early episodes of the show. The British Cot Death Foundation initially feared that a soap opera would trivialise the subject and frighten new parents. They tried to stop the episodes from airing, but in the end they were pleased with the way the subject was handled, and provided back-up support after transmission to many viewers who wanted more information on the subject.
The character of Ali lasted in the show for over four years, remaining after the mental breakdown of his highly-strung wife and depicting the plight of a single-parent father. Ali was eventually written out of the serial in 1989 following the departure of Smith and Holland from the series and the introduction of a new producer, Mike Gibbon.
version of the popular EastEnders couple, Den and Angie "running the café rather than the Queen Vic".
In 2011, an EastEnders storyline aired featuring the character Ronnie Branning
's baby dying of a cot death and the mother subsequently swapping her dead baby with another character's child. This plot has been compared unfavourably to the Osman cot death of 1985.
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 Nejdet Salih. He was a member of the original EastEnders cast, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985. He remained with the show for nearly five years afterwards, making his final appearance on 10 October 1989. Ali was scripted as happy-go-lucky, which was in stark contrast to his highly strung wife, Sue
Sue Osman
Susan "Sue" Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sandy Ratcliff. She was one of the serial's original characters, appearing in its first episode on 19 February 1985 and departing on-screen in May 1989. Created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, Sue was...
. Central to his storylines were his penchant for gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
, his tempestuous marriage, and the loss of his son to cot death, which was one of the first controversial storylines covered by the soap. He was created by Julia Smith
Julia Smith
Julia Smith was an English television director and producer.- Early career :London-born Smith became involved in television production when she directed the series Suspense in 1962...
and Tony Holland
Tony Holland
Anthony John "Tony" Holland was an English television screenwriter best known as a writer and co-creator of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early career:...
, the creators of EastEnders.
Backstory
A Turkish Cypriot, Ali and his family (including his older brother MehmetMehmet Osman
Mehmet Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Haluk Bilginer. Mehmet was portrayed as a charmer, rogue and a serial womaniser, played as a recurring character until 1989.-Storylines:...
) moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1975. Ali was the first known owner of the Bridge Street Café in Walford
Walford
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix 'ford' is also found throughout East...
, which he leased and ran together with his English wife Sue
Sue Osman
Susan "Sue" Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sandy Ratcliff. She was one of the serial's original characters, appearing in its first episode on 19 February 1985 and departing on-screen in May 1989. Created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, Sue was...
, whom he married in 1982. Their son Hassan was born in 1984.
1985-1989
Ali is a gamblerGambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
. He frequently holds games of poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
in the café after closing time and wages bets at the bookies - a huge source of concern for Sue. Ali rashly decides to wager his business on a bet in 1985 and wins a substantial amount of money. The Osmans are overjoyed, however the next day disaster strikes when baby Hassan dies of cot death. Ali and Sue spend months coming to terms with their son's death. The marriage is tested further when they try for another baby. When Sue does not conceive, Ali fears he is impotent and questions his masculinity, resulting in him attempting to seduce other women; the desperation for a baby causes continual marital problems until Sue finally falls pregnant again in 1987. Their second son named Ali (after his father) is born in 1988.
When Sue begins to tire of life in Walford, Ali tries to get funds together to facilitate their move. In doing so, he runs up huge gambling debts to Joanne Francis
Joanne Francis
Joanne Francis is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Pamela Salem. She appeared on screen between 16 June 1988 and 3 January 1989.-Storylines :Joanne was first seen in Albert Square in June 1988...
, manageress of Strokes wine bar, also a member of the criminal underworld known as The Firm. Desperate for money to hide his losses from Sue, Ali turns to his café employee, Ian Beale
Ian Beale
Ian Albert Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Adam Woodyatt. He is the longest-serving character and the only remaining original character to have appeared continuously since the first episode on 19 February 1985...
, for a loan. Ian charges him 10 percent interest. Ali continues to gamble, struggling to repay Ian, until he manages to win. Pleased with himself, Ali's boasting catches the attention of Donna Ludlow
Donna Ludlow
Donna Ludlow is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Matilda Ziegler between 1987-1989. Donna was scripted as a troubled individual, desperate for attention, but shunned by almost all who encountered her...
; she seduces Ali and after they have sex, Donna blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
s Ali, threatening to tell Sue unless he pays her. Ali pays, but the truth comes out nevertheless when Donna informs Sue in retaliation to an insult. A devastated Sue turns to Mehmet for comfort and, in a bid for revenge, she kisses him in front of Ali. Thinking that his brother has been sleeping with his wife, Ali attacks Mehmet and banishes him from his life and after much rowing, Sue flees with Little Ali without informing her husband where she is going. Ali searches for Sue to no avail, but eventually finds her visiting Hassan's grave and snatches Little Ali back. Upon losing her son, Sue becomes deranged and is sectioned.
Now a single father, Ali struggles to keep his businesses afloat. He cannot afford the rent increase and attempts an insurance scam by torching his cafe, which is witnessed by Ian. Ian uses the situation to his advantage, forcing Ali to relinquish ownership of the cafe to him, sparking a feud between the pair when a scorned Ali refrains from informing Ian that all the kitchen utilities had been bought via Hire Purchase and they are subsequently repossessed.
Ali continues to struggle with juggling his work and parental responsibilities. He is forced to resign from working at Frank Butcher
Frank Butcher
Francis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
's car-lot when he discovers his child-minder is neglecting his son. He takes up mini-cabbying, but when his car is stolen he is unable to continue working. Unemployed, Ali is forced to allow his parents to take care of his son outside Walford. With no money, Ali attends a game of poker but loses to his landlord Alan McIntyre, whom Ali had feuded with since 1987. As a result, Ali is evicted from his flat when he is unable to pay his debts to Alan. In a fury, Ali smashes up the flat with a crowbar
Crowbar (tool)
A crowbar, a wrecking bar, pry bar, or prybar, or sometimes a prise bar or prisebar, and more informally a jimmy, jimmy bar, jemmy or gooseneck is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails...
, breaking all the windows and doors, until his family turn up and send him to Northern Cyprus with his son in October 1989.
Creation
Ali Osman was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony HollandTony Holland
Anthony John "Tony" Holland was an English television screenwriter best known as a writer and co-creator of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early career:...
and Julia Smith
Julia Smith
Julia Smith was an English television director and producer.- Early career :London-born Smith became involved in television production when she directed the series Suspense in 1962...
. Ali, a Turkish Cypriot, was originally intended to be named Chris. His name was changed to Ali when it dawned on Holland that he had given a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
name to a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
. Ali was a well-intentioned attempt to represent the proportion of Turkish Cypriots who had immigrated to England and settled in the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
. Holland and Smith knew that for the soap to succeed there needed to be a varied group of characters, so that several different sections of the audience had someone to identify with. Additionally, if the programme was to be realistic, it had to reflect the cross-section of society that actually existed in the real location. For these reasons, different sexes, ages, classes, religions and races were all included in the original character line-up. Both Holland and Smith had been at the forefront of the move towards 'integrated casting' in television and had encountered an array of ethnic diversities in the process. Even though the ethnic minority groups were deemed the hardest to research, Holland and Smith called upon their contacts to relay information about their origins and lifestyles and were then able to portray Walford's most recent immigrants more realistically.
Ali's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story
EastEnders books
This is a list of books about or relating to the British soap opera EastEnders.-Non-fiction books:* EastEnders: The Inside Story* Public Secrets: EastEnders and its Audience* EastEnders Special...
. In this passage Ali is referred to as "Chris".
- "Chris is a Turkish Cypriot, his wife Sue is English, and they run the cafe just off the Square. In the evenings, Chris is also a minicab driver. They have a nine month old son named after Chris' dad - Hassan - and they are devoted to him....Chris was born in Cyprus in 1957. But, as it turned out in 1974, he was a Turk in a Greek zone. A refugee-camp followed. Then, the family was resettled in a Turkish zone. But, it never felt like home, and there was no money so, in 1975 they came to London...Chris married Sue in 1982...Chris is basically lazy, and a gambler. Not (yet) a compulsive gambler - but he is a passionate one...He's a bit of a peacock. He expects to be waited on hand and foot...Chris is always having to prove himself." (page 59)
The casting of Ali was a huge problem for Holland and Smith. During that time in the 80s only three Turkish-speaking actors could be located in London, and one of those was considered unsuitable. The other two, Haluk Bilginer
Haluk Bilginer
Haluk Bilginer is a Turkish actor. In addition to his acting career in Turkey, he has also worked in the United Kingdom and remains best known for his role as Mehmet Osman in the television soap opera EastEnders during the 1980s. He has also starred in Hollywood movies as a minor actor...
and Nejdet Salih, were possibilities. Deciding which to cast caused major rows between Holland and Smith. Holland favoured Bilginer as he looked the part. He felt Salih did not have the physical presence needed and also believed that Sandy Ratcliff
Sandy Ratcliff
Alexandria "Sandy" Ratcliff is an English former actress. Ratcliff made an impression as a model and film actress in the 1970s, but she is best known for being one of the original cast members in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in the 1980s...
(the actress playing his on-screen wife) would "make mincemeat out of him". Smith disagreed. As Salih was actually Turkish Cypriot (whilst Bilginer was Turkish) she felt he would have actual knowledge to bring to the character and wouldn't have to act the part as "he was the part". He also lived in the East End, as did his large family. To resolve the conflict both actors were given readings with Sandy Ratcliff and Salih eventually won the role following a cheeky, sexist remark aimed at Ratcliff and her tardy time-keeping. Both Holland and Smith felt this typified the character perfectly. Ironically, both actors eventually featured in the series, as Bilinger was brought back to take on the role of Ali's older brother.
Peter Batt, one of EastEnders original scriptwriters, has alleged that he created the character of Ali, and that he was based on himself: "a lunatic fucking gambler".
Development
Before the show aired, Holland and Smith had already decided that Sue and her husband would be parents to a young baby named Hassan. However, as further characters were invented they realised that there would be a total of four babies in the show: Annie Smith, Martin FowlerMartin Fowler (EastEnders)
Martin Albert Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by James Alexandrou from 1996 to 2007.The role was previously played by Jon Peyton Price from early life as a baby in 1985 to 1996, just before Martin's teenage years began.-Storylines:Martin is the younger son...
, Vicki Fowler
Vicki Fowler
Victoria Louise "Vicki" Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Emma Herry from the character's birth in 1986 to 1988, Samantha Leigh Martin from 1988 to 1995, and Scarlett Johnson from 2003 to 2004. The character was born in the serial, conceived in a...
and Hassan. It was decided that it would be impossible for the studios to cope with four babies, and so they invented a storyline to eliminate one of the young babies from the cast. During this time in the 1980s, the issue of cot death
Sudden infant death syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history, and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation. An infant is at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep, which is why it is sometimes...
was extremely prominent in the British press, partly due to an increase in casualties, but also because a doctor had gone public with the accusation that parents were to blame for the tragic occurrence. Holland and Smith decided that covering this subject in the soap would be a good way of 'setting the record straight', and so it was decided that Sue and Ali's baby would die from cot death in the early months of the show. This was the first of many controversial storylines in EastEnders history. After the storyline aired in June 1985, the show was praised by audience and press alike for the sensitive and unsensational way this harrowing subject was treated. The sudden tragedy came as a surprise to the audience, especially since the bereaved parents were a couple whose feuding, fighting ways had made them appear rather comic in the early episodes of the show. The British Cot Death Foundation initially feared that a soap opera would trivialise the subject and frighten new parents. They tried to stop the episodes from airing, but in the end they were pleased with the way the subject was handled, and provided back-up support after transmission to many viewers who wanted more information on the subject.
The character of Ali lasted in the show for over four years, remaining after the mental breakdown of his highly-strung wife and depicting the plight of a single-parent father. Ali was eventually written out of the serial in 1989 following the departure of Smith and Holland from the series and the introduction of a new producer, Mike Gibbon.
Reception
It has been suggested by Comedy Central that "the tempestuous relationship between Sue and Ali Osman kept many an EastEnders viewer on the edge of their seat." The couple were described by the website as a diet cokeDiet Coke
Diet Coke is a sugar-free soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. It was first introduced in the United States on August 9, 1982, as the first new brand since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark...
version of the popular EastEnders couple, Den and Angie "running the café rather than the Queen Vic".
In 2011, an EastEnders storyline aired featuring the character Ronnie Branning
Ronnie Mitchell
Veronica Elizabeth "Ronnie" Branning is a fictional character from the British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Samantha Womack. Ronnie and her sister Roxy were introduced by executive producer Diederick Santer in July 2007; Ronnie is the "ice" to Roxy's "fire"...
's baby dying of a cot death and the mother subsequently swapping her dead baby with another character's child. This plot has been compared unfavourably to the Osman cot death of 1985.