Creation and Development
Liam is a character that was born in the serial; the first son of Bianca (Patsy Palmer) and Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen) who was conceived following the forced abortion of their first daughter in 1997 after she was diagnosed with spina bifida. Bianca's pregnancy with Liam was used by the programme makers to spread a public message in 1998; the scriptwriters included scenes of a practitioner advising Bianca to take folic acid, which protects against spina bifida. The Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (ASBAH) issued a public plea to EastEnders, urging them to allow Bianca's second baby to be born with spina bifida, in order to show parents that having a baby with spina bifida is "not the end of the world". This did not occur, however, and Bianca was shown to give birth to a premature but healthy baby Liam in an episode that aired on Christmas Day 1998.
After three separate stints in EastEnders played by different child/baby actors - most substantially from 2002–2004, when Liam returned to Albert Square as part of his father Ricky's introduction - Liam returned in a more prominent role in 2008, played by James Forde. His return was confirmed on 29 October 2007 following the announcement that Patsy Palmer and Sid owen were reprising their roles as Bianca and Ricky; he reappeared on-screen in April 2008. Upon his return, it was said that Liam had "taken to being the man of the house", and was described as "not very academic, but always willing to try new things – a trait which sees him quite often in trouble. His laddish demeanour, however, is softened by the affection he is not afraid to show his mum." As part of the reintroduction of Bianca, four children, including Liam, were scripted into the character's narrative, including Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), the sixteen-year-old daughter of Bianca's deceased partner; Tiffany Dean (Maisie Smith), Bianca's five-year-old daughter; and Morgan Jackson-King (Devon Higgs), Bianca's two-year-old son, "the most out of all of the kids".
To promote the family's introduction, the BBC began airing trailers across the BBC network in March 2008. One trailer saw Bianca singing The Jackson 5 hit "I Want You Back" and performing a dance routine along with her four children. The promo uses the tag line "Introducing The Jackson 5". Within three days of being posted on the video sharing website YouTube, the promo had been viewed 52,000 times.
Read more about this topic: Liam Butcher
Famous quotes containing the words creation and, creation and/or development:
“As a natural process, of the same character as the development of a tree from its seed, or of a fowl from its egg, evolution excludes creation and all other kinds of supernatural intervention.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The very austerity of the Brahmans is tempting to the devotional soul, as a more refined and nobler luxury. Wants so easily and gracefully satisfied seem like a more refined pleasure. Their conception of creation is peaceful as a dream.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For the child whose impulsiveness is indulged, who retains his primitive-discharge mechanisms, is not only an ill-behaved child but a child whose intellectual development is slowed down. No matter how well he is endowed intellectually, if direct action and immediate gratification are the guiding principles of his behavior, there will be less incentive to develop the higher mental processes, to reason, to employ the imagination creatively. . . .”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)