Heather Trott - Reception

Reception

The character of Heather has been hailed by Mark Wright of The Stage as the " stand out of 2007". He has described her as "the divine, the wonderful, the brilliant Heather Trott, played to absolute perfection by actress Cheryl Fergison, we have somebody new who the writers can engage with and, if they play it right, create a new soap legend." She has also been described as a "legend" by Digital Spy's Kris Green and was nominated for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best On-Screen Partnership' (with Shirley Carter) at the 2008 Digital Spy Soap Awards. She was also nominated for 'Best Comedy Performance' and 'Best On Screen Partnership' at the 2008 British Soap Awards, 'Best Newcomer' at the 2008 TV Quick and TV Choice Awards and won 'Funniest Performance' at the 2008 Inside Soap Awards. On Digital Spy's 2012 end of year reader poll, Heather's exit storyline came second in the "Best Storyline" category with 25.9% of the vote.

Fellow cast member Kara Tointon has named Heather as her favourite character in the soap, explaining of her choice: "I think she brings something really great to the show, and not just the comedy—she's good at emotional scenes too. I love watching her." Garry Bushell, TV critic for the Daily Star, has criticised Heather's appearance, dubbing her "Heffer" and referring to her as a "giant dumpling with eyes". Bushell found it implausible that Minty would kiss Heather, and later deemed her crush on Garry Hobbs "disturbing". A writer for the Daily Mirror also criticised her appearance: "Her frocks and matching Alice bands could have been stitched together out of Nigel Bates's old ties and if I was actress Cheryl Fergison I'd have cried myself to sleep every night—especially after the cruel Brighton episodes. Being fat made Heather fair game and you'd have cheered if Gok Wan had stormed a storyline conference and bitch-slapped the lot of them." The Guardian's Nancy Banks-Smith has deemed Heather "a big girl with a heart to match". She approved of her marriage to Minty, however was critical of the execution of the wedding itself, writing: "Indeed, as the only two throughly nice people in Walford, she and Minty were made for each other. EastEnders, who wouldn't recognise tender if they broke a toe on it, treated it all as a big joke."

In 2008, the character was criticised by private healthcare company Bupa, when they rated her one of television's most unhealthy characters due to her poor diet. Following the character's death, Alex Hardy of The Times wrote " was just an accessory in her own murder, really, just as she was only an accessory in the five years she's been in the soap. This is a lady whose "big" storylines have included stealing cheese from the Minute Mart, being played by a bloke in Harry Hill's TV Burp, and keeping in her bra a yoghurt top that she'd nicked from George Michael's bin. Plot wise, she has long been a dead weight, so perhaps it's only right that she's now literally become one." While commenting on the character's death, a reporter from the Liverpool Daily Post said "Walford is better off without Heather Trott. Her character always struck me as one which the script-writers had come to regret. She was like a younger – and considerably larger – version of Rita Fairclough in Coronation Street." They added that she was the subject of the most random soap storylines since Bouncer was given a dream sequence in Neighbours. Kevin O'Sullivan from the Sunday Mirror said that "life extinct" was apt for Heather because she was the size of a dinosaur. He added that no one in Walford would really miss Heather. The writer also felt that the "massive Ms Trott was never much more a caricature simpleton whose love for George Michael and all things 80s retro was supposed to be side-splitting. But wasn't. Another cardboard cutout bites the dust."