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Aidan Brosnan made his first appearance on 14 January 1993. He is portrayed by Sean Maguire.

Storylines[]

Irish sixteen-year-old Aidan is first seen in January 1993 as an apprentice footballer for Walford Town FC. When Arthur Fowler notices his talents, he offers to assist Aidan as his coach and keeper. Aidan then moves in with Arthur and his wife Pauline Fowler.

Aidan catches the attention of Mandy Salter and it isn't long before they begin a relationship, much to Arthur's concern, as he is aware of Mandy's past misdemeanours. Mandy is a bad influence on Aidan and after persuading him to skip practice, she gets him drunk on tequila and plans to seduce him, until Mark Fowler interrupts them. Whilst on his way home, Aidan (still extremely drunk) climbs on top of a parked car and falls off, severely injuring his leg. Aidan is out of action for a while, but his leg does recover, however, shortly after he is involved in another accident during training. As a result, Aidan can never play again and his promising career is over. Mandy and Ricky Butcher try cheering Aidan up by luring him into club-culture. After taking ecstasy, Aidan passes out in an ecstasy-induced coma and is hospitalised. He recovers from the incident but after his parents hear of his escapades, they force him to return to Ireland. Mandy is not willing to give her boyfriend up so easily, so follows him.

However, just as everyone in Albert Square thought they had seen the back of Aidan and Mandy, Mandy persuades Aidan to return to Walford again in June 1993. Upon returning, Mandy and Aidan are homeless so they break into Pete Beale's vacant flat and attempt to claim squatters rights, which only lasts days before Grant and Phil Mitchell remove them leading to Aidan hitting Grant in frustration. They now start sleeping on the streets and survive by begging, stealing prescription pads from Doctor Harold Legg and selling them to drug-dealers, and stealing food whenever they can. Mandy turns to clipping (soliciting as a prostitute and then running away with the unsatisfied client's money), which ends when she is arrested and Aidan makes her promise to stop. They eventually take up residence in a rundown flat at number 5 Albert Square. They steal electricity from the neighbouring houses, causing a massive power cut. The electricity board put a stop to their scam. Meanwhile, Aidan and Mandy spend what little money they do have on alcohol and drugs.

In October 1993, they both find employment at the First Til Last grocery store on Bridge Street but, when the job falls through, they begin to go into decline. Soon after, Aidan hears that his grandmother has died but because they are unable to reach him, he only discovers the news on the day of her funeral. Aidan visits Ireland briefly with money his parents sent him. Aidan learns on his return that Richard Cole has started a smear campaign in his absence, wrongly accusing him and Mandy of being behind a series of robberies around the Square. Everyone begins to turn against them, Grant even roughs Aidan up when he accuses him of stealing from the Queen Vic and Aidan becomes increasingly ill and depressed. Things worsen when Richard buys the flat they are squatting in. When they refuse to leave, Richard breaks into their squat and evicts them days before Christmas.

Aidan receives a letter from his parents telling him that they are disowning him after learning of his recent behaviour. Mandy had found them a new squat in the boiler room at the top of a tower block on the estate that Mandy grew up on. After reading that his parents are disowning him, Aidan's depression gets so bad that he attempts suicide on Christmas Day 1993 by contemplating jumping off the tower block. Mandy manages to stop him but he blames her for his misfortune. He says he is going back to Ireland for good, without her, to reconcile with his parents. Mandy tells Aidan that she loves him as he walks away but he carries on walking away to head to the ferry port, never to see Mandy again.

In 2011, Mandy returned to Albert Square after 17 years away and asked Ian Beale if he ever heard from Aidan and Ian said no.

Resident history[]

Address Years
Ireland Prior to 1993, 1993 to present
5 Albert Square 1993 (Squat)
Various vacant houses 1993

Background Information[]

  • In 2017, another character called Aidan was introduced, also from Ireland. His full name was Aidan Maguire. Ironically his surname is the same as the actor, Sean Maguire, who played Aidan Brosnan. Some viewers on social media thought Aidan Maguire was a recast of the 1993 character Aidan Brosnan until others explained that it is another character with the same first name and the two characters and actors ages did not match up.
  • Aidan was part of a cancelled storyline in which the character would commit suicide on Christmas day. Actor Sean Maguire begged producers not to go through with the storyline, but producers remained insistent the storyline was happening, however, days before shooting scenes Sean was involved in a road accident which injured his leg, meaning the storyline had to be cancelled.

See also[]

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