Celestine and Etta Tavernier
Encyclopedia
Celestine and Etta Tavernier are fictional character
s from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Leroy Golding
and Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
respectively. Both appeared primarily in the serial as a married couple between 1990 and 1992. Celestine made a further guest appearance in 1993, while Etta made a guest appearance in 1994, both visiting remaining members of the Tavernier family who remained in the serial. Celestine was portrayed as a strict disciplinarian and a devout Christian who expected everyone in his family to show similar dedication to the church and abide by his rules. His unwavering demand for respect often alienated his children and almost caused the breakdown of his marriage. Also religious, Etta was portrayed as a career woman; her most prominent storylines concerned marital problems and crises of faith.
. Celestine was raised by his grandmother after his mother died and his father left to find work in Jamaica
. He came to Britain in 1966, recruited by London Transport
, with the intention of studying at evening classes for a white-collar
job. It was a time when most West-Indians were expected to work on the buses or in hospitals and not to be too ambitious. However, he achieved his ambition, conformed and worked hard and eventually got promoted to manager at Walford Department of Social Security
(DSS).
Celestine married Etta Tavernier in Jamaica and after the birth of their first son in 1968 she joined Celestine in England, later having two more children. Etta decided to train for a job that she knew she could do well - teaching.
, the oldest, and twins Hattie
and Lloyd, moved to Albert Square
along with Celestine's father Jules
, when they were rehoused by the council
in 1990 after Etta acquired a new job teaching
at Walford Primary School.
Celestine was put in an awkward position in 1990 when he discovered that Arthur Fowler
was working and signing on for dole money at the same time. He eventually decided that he couldn't 'turn a blind eye' to Arthur's fraudulent behaviour and turned him in to the authorities at his work, but his self-righteous attitude earned him few friends on the square.
Celestine was unwavering with his expectations of his offspring. He demanded respect and adherence at all times, and because of this he found it extremely difficult to relate to his children, who often felt that his strict rules were harsh and unfair. Celestine had a tempestuous relationship with Clyde in particular. Clyde felt that his father had 'sold out' by accepting the prejudices of his bosses who were slow to promote him, whilst Celestine couldn't relate to Clyde's lack of ambition. He was also regularly accused of turning his back on his roots by his father Jules and because Jules never went through Celestine's struggles for acceptance in a white community, he didn't really understand his son.
Celestine was a dedicated Church
-goer and spent most of his spare time performing religious readings and educating 'young disciples' in the teachings of the Bible
. Etta was also a devout Christian
and a dedicated mother, but the big love of her life was teaching, so she was thrilled when she got promoted to 'acting head' at Walford primary in 1991. However, Celestine blighted what should have been a happy time for Etta by continuously arguing with her about her new job. Celestine, was unhappy about Etta's promotion as he felt threatened by her higher status and earning power and believed that she had deliberately set out to undermine his status as the head of the household. The rift between them nearly drove Celestine into the arms of another woman who he had been mentor
ing in bible studies. The woman, Yvonne, wanted more than friendship from Celestine and propositioned him one night following a row with Etta. It was a testing time for Celstine, but the sanctity of marriage was more important to him and he managed to resist the temptation.
Their marriage was tested again later that in 1991 when Etta decided that she wanted to undergo sterilization in order not to pass on her Sickle-cell gene
to any future children (their youngest son Lloyd had already inherited the gene and his life had been severely limited because of this). Celestine refused to entertain the idea, however, as he felt that such an act went against their religious principles. Etta decided to go ahead with the sterilisation anyway, only to discover that she was already pregnant and that her unborn child was carrying a double dose of the sickle-cell gene. Upon realising this Celestine was forced to reappraise his priorities and to agree, unwillingly, to a termination
. It was a traumatic time for the Taverniers, but the ordeal eventually managed to bring them closer and they emerged from it a much stronger couple.
In 1992 Etta was offered a permanent role as head teacher
at Walford primary and Celestine proved that he'd learnt from his past mistakes by showing genuine happiness for Etta's success. However, in June of that year Celestine was offered a promotion in Norwich
. Etta was unwilling to move but after Lloyd got into trouble with the police
for joy-riding
, she decided that a fresh start for the family might be best. So the couple left Walford for a new start.
Celestine returned briefly in July 1993 when he found out that his daughter was planning on marrying Steve Elliot
and was extremely shocked to find out that she was pregnant. Celestine was also shocked to meet his previously unknown of niece, Gidea Thompson, and he was appalled to find out that his father, Jules, had abandoned Gidea's grandmother - who at the time was pregnant with Gidea's mother - many years earlier.
Etta returned briefly in March 1994 to stop Steve Elliot
(Hattie's ex-boyfriend) from attempting to contact her daughter and to try and persuade her father-in-law, Jules, to come and live with them following his mugging.
, who took over from Mike Gibbon
. Ferguson had previously been a producer on ITV
's The Bill
— a hard-hitting, gritty and successful police drama, which seemed to be challenging EastEnders in providing a realistic vision of modern life in London
. Due to his success on The Bill, Peter Cregeen
, the Head of Series at the BBC, poached Ferguson to become executive producer of EastEnders.
Following a relatively unsuccessful inclination towards comic storylines throughout 1989, Ferguson decided to take the soap in a new direction in 1990. Big changes were implemented both off-screen and on-screen. Ferguson altered the way the episodes were produced, changed the way the storylines were conceptualised and introduced a far greater amount of location work than had previously been seen. EastEnders scriptwriter Colin Brake
has said that it was a challenging period, but "the results on-screen were a programme with a new sense of vitality, and a programme more in touch with the real world than it had been for a while".
As a consequence of these changes, a large number of characters were axed in early 1990 as the new production machine cleared way for a new direction and new characters. Among the new characters were the Jamaican Tavernier family, who collectively arrived on-screen in July 1990, composed of grandfather Jules
(Tommy Eytle
), his son and daughter-in-law Celestine (Leroy Golding
) and Etta (Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
), their eldest son Clyde
(Steven Woodcock
), and their twins Lloyd (Garey Bridges
) and Hattie
, played by Michelle Gayle
. Colin Brake has described the Taverniers as the major new additions that year, and it heralded the first time that an entire family had joined the serial all at once. Their introduction has also been described as a well-intentioned attempt to portray a wider range of black characters than had previously been achieved on the soap.
Etta was Gordon-Lawrence's first television role. Golding, a relatively inexperienced actor at the time of his casting, was sent to audition for the part of Celestine as a means of getting him used to the audition process. He was awarded the part and claims that his inexperience helped rather than hindered the Tavernier family to gel together as it created a sense of "camaraderie" among them; he suggests that he and his screen wife Gordon-Lawrence "played very well off each other".
The Taverniers backstory scripted them as Trinidadian immigrants, who came to the UK in the 1960s and battled their way through a racist society to achieve. Kingsley describes Etta as "the real boss at home, clever enough to let Celestine and Jules believe they were the heads of the household" Meanwhile, Celestine has been described "as someone so straight and upstanding that he'd have to be given a surgical procedure in order to have an unclean thought." Author Hilary Kingsley suggests that Celestine was the "most upright, law-abiding citizen of Albert Square [...] but he doesn't get much thanks for it." She goes on to say that Celestine is "not a happy man, though. He knows his father thinks he has lost his roots. His older son Clyde thinks he has 'sold out' and accepted the prejudices of his bosses who've been slow to promote him. His twins wish he'd loosen up and get excited about something other than their school reports and the cricket results." Kingsley suggests that it was Celestine's relationship with Etta that proved most problematic for him however, stating that "He loves [Etta] and has always been loyal. but when she decided to push ahead in her career he began to feel slighted."
Celestine and Etta's most prominent storylines concerned marital difficulties. Kingsley suggests that Etta's independence and decision to undergo sterilisation and have an abortion, wounded Celestine's male pride and plunged their marriage into turmoil. However, the Taverniers marriage remained intact when "Celestine realised he had to change or he'd be the loser".
Half the Tavernier family, including Celestine, Etta and Lloyd were written out of the serial in 1992. On-screen Celestine was given a promotion in Norwich and left Walford. However, Celestine appeared again in 1993 and Etta in 1994 as part of storylines that were focusing on the remaining characters of the Tavernier family, Jules, Hattie and Clyde.
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...
s 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 Leroy Golding
Leroy Golding
Leroy Golding is a British actor, most famous for playing Celestine Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders; a role that he played from 1990 to 1992, returning briefly in 1993....
and Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence is a British former actress, most famous for playing the role of Etta Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She no longer acts and as of 2008 works in criminal law.-Career:...
respectively. Both appeared primarily in the serial as a married couple between 1990 and 1992. Celestine made a further guest appearance in 1993, while Etta made a guest appearance in 1994, both visiting remaining members of the Tavernier family who remained in the serial. Celestine was portrayed as a strict disciplinarian and a devout Christian who expected everyone in his family to show similar dedication to the church and abide by his rules. His unwavering demand for respect often alienated his children and almost caused the breakdown of his marriage. Also religious, Etta was portrayed as a career woman; her most prominent storylines concerned marital problems and crises of faith.
Backstory
Celestine and Etta were born in TrinidadTrinidad
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...
. Celestine was raised by his grandmother after his mother died and his father left to find work in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. He came to Britain in 1966, recruited by London Transport
London Transport Board
The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1963-1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.-History:The...
, with the intention of studying at evening classes for a white-collar
White-collar worker
The term white-collar worker refers to a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative work, in contrast with a blue-collar worker, whose job requires manual labor...
job. It was a time when most West-Indians were expected to work on the buses or in hospitals and not to be too ambitious. However, he achieved his ambition, conformed and worked hard and eventually got promoted to manager at Walford Department of Social Security
Department of Social Security
The Department of Social Security is the name of a defunct governmental agency in the United Kingdom.The DSS replaced the older Department of Health and Social Security, from 1988 until 2001, when it was itself largely replaced as a department of the Government of the United Kingdom by the...
(DSS).
Celestine married Etta Tavernier in Jamaica and after the birth of their first son in 1968 she joined Celestine in England, later having two more children. Etta decided to train for a job that she knew she could do well - teaching.
1992-1994
Celestine and Etta and their three children, ClydeClyde Tavernier
Clyde Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steven Woodcock. Introduced in the summer of 1990, Clyde was featured in various prominent storylines including an inter-racial relationship with Michelle Fowler, and being framed for the murder of publican Eddie...
, the oldest, and twins Hattie
Hattie Tavernier
Hattie Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Gayle between 1990 and 1993. Hattie and her family were introduced in July 1990 by producer Michael Ferguson. The Taverniers were the first collective black family to join the soap at the same time...
and Lloyd, moved to Albert Square
Albert 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...
along with Celestine's father Jules
Jules Tavernier (EastEnders)
Jules Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tommy Eytle between 1990 and 1997. Jules was depicted as a flirtatious older gentleman. He was introduced in 1990 and remained in the show after the departures of all of his on-screen family...
, when they were rehoused by the council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
in 1990 after Etta acquired a new job teaching
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
at Walford Primary School.
Celestine was put in an awkward position in 1990 when he discovered that Arthur Fowler
Arthur Fowler
Arthur George Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Bill Treacher.The father of the Fowler family, Arthur was essentially a good man, but he made some foolish choices and he always ended up paying dearly for them, also being bossed to the brink of insanity by...
was working and signing on for dole money at the same time. He eventually decided that he couldn't 'turn a blind eye' to Arthur's fraudulent behaviour and turned him in to the authorities at his work, but his self-righteous attitude earned him few friends on the square.
Celestine was unwavering with his expectations of his offspring. He demanded respect and adherence at all times, and because of this he found it extremely difficult to relate to his children, who often felt that his strict rules were harsh and unfair. Celestine had a tempestuous relationship with Clyde in particular. Clyde felt that his father had 'sold out' by accepting the prejudices of his bosses who were slow to promote him, whilst Celestine couldn't relate to Clyde's lack of ambition. He was also regularly accused of turning his back on his roots by his father Jules and because Jules never went through Celestine's struggles for acceptance in a white community, he didn't really understand his son.
Celestine was a dedicated Church
Church service
In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
-goer and spent most of his spare time performing religious readings and educating 'young disciples' in the teachings of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. Etta was also a devout 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...
and a dedicated mother, but the big love of her life was teaching, so she was thrilled when she got promoted to 'acting head' at Walford primary in 1991. However, Celestine blighted what should have been a happy time for Etta by continuously arguing with her about her new job. Celestine, was unhappy about Etta's promotion as he felt threatened by her higher status and earning power and believed that she had deliberately set out to undermine his status as the head of the household. The rift between them nearly drove Celestine into the arms of another woman who he had been mentor
Mentor
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...
ing in bible studies. The woman, Yvonne, wanted more than friendship from Celestine and propositioned him one night following a row with Etta. It was a testing time for Celstine, but the sanctity of marriage was more important to him and he managed to resist the temptation.
Their marriage was tested again later that in 1991 when Etta decided that she wanted to undergo sterilization in order not to pass on her Sickle-cell gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
to any future children (their youngest son Lloyd had already inherited the gene and his life had been severely limited because of this). Celestine refused to entertain the idea, however, as he felt that such an act went against their religious principles. Etta decided to go ahead with the sterilisation anyway, only to discover that she was already pregnant and that her unborn child was carrying a double dose of the sickle-cell gene. Upon realising this Celestine was forced to reappraise his priorities and to agree, unwillingly, to a termination
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. It was a traumatic time for the Taverniers, but the ordeal eventually managed to bring them closer and they emerged from it a much stronger couple.
In 1992 Etta was offered a permanent role as head teacher
Head teacher
A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....
at Walford primary and Celestine proved that he'd learnt from his past mistakes by showing genuine happiness for Etta's success. However, in June of that year Celestine was offered a promotion in Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
. Etta was unwilling to move but after Lloyd got into trouble with the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
for joy-riding
Joyride (crime)
To joyride is to drive around in a stolen car, boat, or other vehicle with no particular goal, a ride taken solely for pleasure.In English law, joyriding is not considered to be theft, because the intention to "permanently deprive" the owner of the vehicle cannot be proven...
, she decided that a fresh start for the family might be best. So the couple left Walford for a new start.
Celestine returned briefly in July 1993 when he found out that his daughter was planning on marrying Steve Elliot
Steve Elliot
Steve Elliot is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mark Monero between 1991 and 1996.- Storylines :Steve is first seen in Albert Square in October 1991 as an old school friend of Hattie Tavernier and Sam Mitchell...
and was extremely shocked to find out that she was pregnant. Celestine was also shocked to meet his previously unknown of niece, Gidea Thompson, and he was appalled to find out that his father, Jules, had abandoned Gidea's grandmother - who at the time was pregnant with Gidea's mother - many years earlier.
Etta returned briefly in March 1994 to stop Steve Elliot
Steve Elliot
Steve Elliot is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Mark Monero between 1991 and 1996.- Storylines :Steve is first seen in Albert Square in October 1991 as an old school friend of Hattie Tavernier and Sam Mitchell...
(Hattie's ex-boyfriend) from attempting to contact her daughter and to try and persuade her father-in-law, Jules, to come and live with them following his mugging.
Creation and development
In the latter part of 1989 EastEnders acquired a new executive producer named Michael FergusonMichael Ferguson (director)
Michael Ferguson is a British script writer, television director and television producer. Ferguson has been described as a “long term champion of realistic popular drama”. Ferguson was executive producer of the BBC soap opera, EastEnders between 1989 and 1991...
, who took over from Mike Gibbon
Mike Gibbon
John Michael "Mike" Gibbon is an English television producer and director. Gibbon married Moya McCarthy in July 1976 and they have a daughter, Sophie....
. Ferguson had previously been a producer on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
— a hard-hitting, gritty and successful police drama, which seemed to be challenging EastEnders in providing a realistic vision of modern life in 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...
. Due to his success on The Bill, Peter Cregeen
Peter Cregeen
Peter Cregeen is a British television director, producer and executive. He is possibly best known for being the original director of ITV's successful police drama, The Bill, and his substantial contribution to the serial thereafter...
, the Head of Series at the BBC, poached Ferguson to become executive producer of EastEnders.
Following a relatively unsuccessful inclination towards comic storylines throughout 1989, Ferguson decided to take the soap in a new direction in 1990. Big changes were implemented both off-screen and on-screen. Ferguson altered the way the episodes were produced, changed the way the storylines were conceptualised and introduced a far greater amount of location work than had previously been seen. EastEnders scriptwriter Colin Brake
Colin Brake
Colin Brake is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programs such as Bugs and EastEnders. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series Doctor Who...
has said that it was a challenging period, but "the results on-screen were a programme with a new sense of vitality, and a programme more in touch with the real world than it had been for a while".
As a consequence of these changes, a large number of characters were axed in early 1990 as the new production machine cleared way for a new direction and new characters. Among the new characters were the Jamaican Tavernier family, who collectively arrived on-screen in July 1990, composed of grandfather Jules
Jules Tavernier (EastEnders)
Jules Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tommy Eytle between 1990 and 1997. Jules was depicted as a flirtatious older gentleman. He was introduced in 1990 and remained in the show after the departures of all of his on-screen family...
(Tommy Eytle
Tommy Eytle
Tommy Daniel Hicks Eytle was a Guyanese musician and actor. Although born in Guyana, Eylte's career was based in the United Kingdom, where he lived after emigrating in 1951....
), his son and daughter-in-law Celestine (Leroy Golding
Leroy Golding
Leroy Golding is a British actor, most famous for playing Celestine Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders; a role that he played from 1990 to 1992, returning briefly in 1993....
) and Etta (Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence
Jacqui Gordon-Lawrence is a British former actress, most famous for playing the role of Etta Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She no longer acts and as of 2008 works in criminal law.-Career:...
), their eldest son Clyde
Clyde Tavernier
Clyde Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steven Woodcock. Introduced in the summer of 1990, Clyde was featured in various prominent storylines including an inter-racial relationship with Michelle Fowler, and being framed for the murder of publican Eddie...
(Steven Woodcock
Steven Woodcock
Steven Woodcock is a British actor, most famous for his role as Clyde Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders; a role that he played from July 1990 to July 1993....
), and their twins Lloyd (Garey Bridges
Garey Bridges
Garey Bridges is a British actor, best known for playing the role of Lloyd Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Career:...
) and Hattie
Hattie Tavernier
Hattie Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Gayle between 1990 and 1993. Hattie and her family were introduced in July 1990 by producer Michael Ferguson. The Taverniers were the first collective black family to join the soap at the same time...
, played by Michelle Gayle
Michelle Gayle
Michelle Patricia Gayle is a British recording artist, actress and author. Gayle had success as a Soul and R&B singer in the 1990s. She achieved seven Top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart, her two biggest hits to date being "Sweetness" and "Do You Know"...
. Colin Brake has described the Taverniers as the major new additions that year, and it heralded the first time that an entire family had joined the serial all at once. Their introduction has also been described as a well-intentioned attempt to portray a wider range of black characters than had previously been achieved on the soap.
Etta was Gordon-Lawrence's first television role. Golding, a relatively inexperienced actor at the time of his casting, was sent to audition for the part of Celestine as a means of getting him used to the audition process. He was awarded the part and claims that his inexperience helped rather than hindered the Tavernier family to gel together as it created a sense of "camaraderie" among them; he suggests that he and his screen wife Gordon-Lawrence "played very well off each other".
The Taverniers backstory scripted them as Trinidadian immigrants, who came to the UK in the 1960s and battled their way through a racist society to achieve. Kingsley describes Etta as "the real boss at home, clever enough to let Celestine and Jules believe they were the heads of the household" Meanwhile, Celestine has been described "as someone so straight and upstanding that he'd have to be given a surgical procedure in order to have an unclean thought." Author Hilary Kingsley suggests that Celestine was the "most upright, law-abiding citizen of Albert Square [...] but he doesn't get much thanks for it." She goes on to say that Celestine is "not a happy man, though. He knows his father thinks he has lost his roots. His older son Clyde thinks he has 'sold out' and accepted the prejudices of his bosses who've been slow to promote him. His twins wish he'd loosen up and get excited about something other than their school reports and the cricket results." Kingsley suggests that it was Celestine's relationship with Etta that proved most problematic for him however, stating that "He loves [Etta] and has always been loyal. but when she decided to push ahead in her career he began to feel slighted."
Celestine and Etta's most prominent storylines concerned marital difficulties. Kingsley suggests that Etta's independence and decision to undergo sterilisation and have an abortion, wounded Celestine's male pride and plunged their marriage into turmoil. However, the Taverniers marriage remained intact when "Celestine realised he had to change or he'd be the loser".
Half the Tavernier family, including Celestine, Etta and Lloyd were written out of the serial in 1992. On-screen Celestine was given a promotion in Norwich and left Walford. However, Celestine appeared again in 1993 and Etta in 1994 as part of storylines that were focusing on the remaining characters of the Tavernier family, Jules, Hattie and Clyde.