List of East Enders Characters (1987) - Junior Roberts

Junior Roberts, played by Aaron Carrington, is a young tearaway, who idolises his wayward father. He is often getting into trouble and mischief around Albert Square.

Junior is the son of Darren Roberts (Gary McDonald), and he arrives in Walford along with his young sister Aisha (Aisha Jacob) in July 1987. The Roberts clan come to live with Junior's aunt, Carmel (Judith Jacob), at number 3b Albert Square.

Junior proceeds to cause havoc around the Square, getting into trouble for stealing, graffitiing the square, playing truant, and gives everyone a fright when he runs away from home and almost gets into a car with a stranger. Junior finds himself a girlfriend in 1988, Melody (Lyanne Compton), who is equally as troublesome. The two begin a scam where they steal dogs from people and then return them for a reward. They also manage to spark up a feud with the Karim children, with both sides swapping racist insults at each other. Darren, a petty criminal, is not the best role-model for his impressionable son, and he is often unable to curtail his deviance.

Junior idolises Darren and so he is devastated in July 1988 when his father abandons him and his sister and disappears without a word to anyone. Junior is forced to move away from Walford and go and live with his Grandparents, but he shows up regularly to visit Carmel and gets into more trouble, such as stealing Colin Russell's (Michael Cashman) CD collection and then selling them on to Rod Norman (Christopher McHallem) for a profit. This act even leads to him getting arrested after Colin's boyfriend, Guido (Nicholas Donovan), decides to teach him a lesson and informs the police. He gets off with a warning, but continues to make trouble for himself when he persuades Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen) to buy him alcohol, and is witnessed drinking by Dot Cotton (June Brown). Dot is appalled to see an underage boy getting drunk, and she promptly informs Carmel. By 1989 Junior has become so troublesome that his elderly, sickly grandparents can no longer cope and Carmel is instructed to take both her brother's children in again. This is met unfavourably by Carmel's new husband Matthew Jackson (Steven Hartley), who freely admits that he dislikes Junior immensely.

Matthew and Junior argue regularly and this puts a severe strain on Carmel's marital relationship. Junior's dislike for Matthew stems from the fact that he rightly suspects him of abusing his aunt. Junior tries to put a stop to Matthew's violence by informing various members of his family about the abuse he'd witnessed, but despite their best efforts Carmel refuses to take their help and denies that anything untoward is occurring. Things reach a head in July 1989, when Junior, in an attempt to protect his aunt from Matthew's rage, stabs him with a kitchen knife. Matthew is rushed to hospital, and Junior finds it difficult to come to terms with what he has done. Carmel eventually manages to reassure him that what he did was in self-defence and he is not to blame.

The following month Carmel's father dies, and so the Robertses all leave Walford to tend to Junior's grieving grandmother. Junior is not pleased with this and makes an ill-fated attempt to run away from home with Melody, but he only manages to get as far as the front door before Carmel discovers his plan and forces him to leave with her instead.

Over the following months Junior shows up in Walford regularly to visit Melody and Vince Johnson (Hepburn Graham), a friend of his father. His last appearance is October 1989 when he attends a Halloween party in the Square.