Annie Smith made her first appearance on 5 March 1985. She was portrayed by Zara Posener and Jenna Alembick from March 1985 to May 1986 and Samantha Crown from June 1986 to May 1989. Marilyn O'Brien took over the role in February 2019, when the character returned with mother Mary Smith to attend Doctor Legg's funeral.
Storylines[]
1985-1988: Life in Albert Square[]
A young woman Mary arrives in Albert Square with her three-month old girl Annie and resides in flat 23B Albert Square (where original resident Reg Cox was murdered in). Mother Mary is a punk and her father was a member of a punk group of which Mary was a groupie, but had no contact with her.
Mary is an incredibly irresponsible mother and Annie is always getting lumbered on neighbours when Mary gets tired of looking after her. Dot Cotton and Sue Osman are the usual victims, but almost everyone on the Square has a turn of looking after Annie. Sue, in particular, grows extremely fond of Annie following the death of her son, Hassan Osman. After bottling up her grief for months, she is forced to hold little Annie, which finally allows her to acknowledge her pent-up sadness.
Annie is once left alone in the launderette by accident while Mary goes drinking in the Queen Vic. Debbie Wilkins finds her and returns her to Mary. Mary also has a tendency to leave Annie home alone whilst she goes out to prostitute herself at night. On one such occasion, Annie throws her blanket at the electric fan heater, causing a fire. Luckily, Arthur Fowler manages to rescue her but as a result, Annie is removed from Mary's care and given to her grandparents, Chris Smith and Edie Smith, who live in Stockport. With the help of Mary's boyfriend Rod Norman and Carmel Jackson, Annie is eventually reunited with her mother, although it takes a lot of persuading to make Edie return her, who feels that Mary is not capable of caring for a young child.
Annie spends Christmas Day 1987 in hospital after her intoxicated grandfather, Chris, abducts her and crashes his car into a wall in an attempt to take her back to Stockport. Luckily, Annie is unharmed.
Eventually, Mary decides to leave Albert Square for good with Annie. They left in May 1988.
2019: Brief return[]
Annie returns to Albert Square with Mary on 19 February 2019 to attend Doctor Harold Legg's funeral. Mary's friend George 'Lofty' Holloway also returns for the funeral and they reminisce with Dot, Sharon Mitchell and Kathy Beale. Mary tells Dot that Annie is now in the police force.