The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, which aired in 2008 . All characters were introduced by executive producer Diederick Santer, who introduced four characters in January: Mr Lister , a new market inspector; Christian Clarke , the brother of Jane Beale ; and two members of the Branning family, Selina and Penny . In March, he introduced Jalil Iqbal , a new love interest for Shabnam Masood . In April, he introduced Ricky Butcher's fiancée, Melinda , as well as Bianca Jackson's children, Whitney , Morgan and Tiffany . In April, he also introduced Denise Fox's ex-husb Lucas Johnson , and Opal Smith , the aunt of Gus and Juley Smith . In May, he extended the Johnson family and introduced Lucas's son, Jordan , as well as introducing Brenda Boyle , a new love interest for Charlie Slater . In July, he introduced two members of the Mitchell family: Archie Mitchell and Danielle Jones . In August, he introduced Callum Monks , the son of Vinnie , and in September Tony King was introduced as the partner of Bianca. Poppy Merritt was also introduced as the new GP of Walford. November saw the only birth of the year, Amy Mitchell, the child of Roxy Mitchell and Jack Branning . The final introduction of the year was Dotty , Nick Cotton's daughter, in December.