Natalie Evans

Natalie Evans (née Price), is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lucy Speed. She first appeared in 1994, but despite producers offering to extend Speed's contact, she opted to leave the serial. Executive producer Matthew Robinson reintroduced the character back in 1999, however Speed left once again in 2004.

Depicted initially as an unhappy, insecure teenager, she was among various regular characters brought in to increase the cast following the BBC's decision to increase episode output to 3 per week. She featured most often with the characters Ricky Butcher and Bianca Jackson; Natalie's affair with Ricky ending his relationship with Bianca was one of the prominent storylines aired in the Winter of 1995. She was reintroduced in 1999 as a business woman and a love interest for Barry Evans, but fled in 2004 in the wake of his murder by Janine Butcher.

1994 was a "historic" year for EastEnders, as in April a third weekly episode was introduced. Due to the programme’s increased frequency, a number of new characters were introduced to the regular cast in the latter part of 1993 and early 1994. Among them was Natalie Price, who made her first appearance in January 1994 as the best friend of Bianca (Patsy Palmer). The character was introduced under executive producer, Leonard Lewis.

Love triangle and initial exit
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Initially, Natalie’s principal purpose in the serial was to be Bianca Jackson’s “put-upon sidekick” – Bianca was already an established character, having been introduced two months prior to Natalie’s first appearance. The most notable storyline featuring Natalie during her initial stint in EastEnders was her affair with Bianca’s boyfriend, Ricky. On-screen Natalie and Ricky found themselves sidelined and bullied by Bianca, forcing them together and leading to their eventual affair, which continued for several weeks on-screen, with Ricky seeing both Natalie and Bianca. The storyline reached its climax on 16 Feb 1995; 17.0 million viewers tuned in to witness Bianca discovering that her boyfriend was sleeping with her best friend. The aftermath of the storyline led to Natalie’s departure from the serial. On-screen Ricky discovered that Natalie orchestrated Bianca’s discovery of their affair and finished with her, and in the midst of Bianca’s wrath, Natalie fled from Walford in shame on 23 February 1995. Ricky and Nat are caught by Bianca (1995).Off-screen, actress Lucy Speed had decided to leave the serial after playing Natalie for a year, as she was reportedly “freaked out” by the media attention she was receiving from being in such a high profile show. In an interview with the ‘’Walford Gazette’’, Speed commented: “I was very frightened by it quite frankly and certainly unprepared for it. I didn't like at all the attention that came with being on such a high-profile show. It simply wasn't what I signed up for in the first place-all that craziness. I was naive, I admit. Of course it does come with the job of being on the show and you have to learn to deal with it and cope with it. The advantages always outweigh the drawbacks, anyway, but it didn't seem like that to me at the time. I was very young and extremely shy, so it all became a huge difficulty for me…But I also have to make it clear that from the beginning when I joined, I always intended to stay in it for just a year anyway. I honoured my initial one-year contract and then moved on…they did express their interest in signing me for another year, but I politely but firmly declined. They were a bit shocked. I tried to explain in the best way I could my reasons for leaving at the end of my contract and they ultimately understood, and so I left on good terms with them…I had some growing up to do and instinctively knew that growing up more or less in front of the British public for one year was enough!