Claudette Hubbard

Claudette Hubbard is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Ellen Thomas. She made her first appearance on 12 March 2015. Claudette is introduced as a friend of Les (Roger Sloman) and Pam Coker (Lin Blakley), before being established as the mother of Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood), as well as the foster mother of Donna Yates (Lisa Hammond) and several other children. Upon her introduction, the character was described as a "new steely matriarch".

During her time on the show, Claudette's storylines included being accused of an affair with Les, before it was ultimately revealed she was aiding his cross-dressing, her volatile history with the Mitchell family, a feud with Babe Smith (Annette Badland), and being left for dead and buried alive by her son Vincent after revealing she was responsible for the death of her husband. Thomas received two award nominations for her portrayal of Claudette; the British Soap Award for Villain of the Year and Best Bad Girl at the Inside Soap Awards. In September 2016, it was confirmed that Thomas would depart her role as Claudette and would leave the soap after being axed by the newly-appointed executive producer Sean O'Connor. Digital Spy wrote that they would miss "her boobs, blackmail and barmy antics" and Thomas herself stated that she would expect Claudette to return in the future.

It's so long ago I can't remember the name of the first character I was. Then I was Grace and now I'm Claudette. Third time lucky. Give me a wig, give me a new pair of shoes and it's a new character!

Thomas' casting was announced on 1 March 2015. The role of Claudette marks Thomas' fourth time on EastEnders, she previously appeared as Pearl Chadwick in 1990, Estella Hulton in 2002 and Grace Olubunmi between 2010 and 2011. Speaking of Thomas and her character, executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins stated: "Ellen Thomas belongs on EastEnders. Albert Square now has a new steely matriarch – with a few twisted secrets hidden behind her beaming smile." David Brown from the Radio Times added that Claudette had links to established regular characters and would be "a tough-talking resident of Albert Square".

Thomas revealed that Claudette's family would be introduced to the soap and was introduced as the mother of established character Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood).. She explained: "Claudette is a foster mother, she's fostered children for the last 30 years. She's fostered the kind of children nobody else wants – tough cookies." She found it to be a "brilliant opportunity to bring new characters in".

Claudette's identity was kept a secret from viewers upon her arrival. She is shown to be having what looks like an affair with Les Coker (Roger Sloman) when he visits her at a café and gives her a necklace. Later that night, while he and his wife, Pam Coker (Lin Blakley), are celebrating their wedding anniversary, Les gets a text from Claudette, thanking him for her necklace. Claudette and Les meet again a week later at the park, with Claudette later arriving for her foster daughter Donna Yates' (Lisa Hammond) birthday celebrations as arranged by Pam. It is revealed that she knows Les and Pam from when the latter worked as a social worker and placed Donna in Claudette's care. When Les' grandson, Paul Coker (Jonny Labey), arrives in Walford, he reveals that he knows Les and Claudette are having an affair. Les decides to stop meeting Claudette but she is not willing to conclude it and states that she will make it difficult for him to exit.

Thinking Claudette and Les are having an affair, Pam leaves. Claudette urges him to tell Pam the truth, just as Pam returns and walks in on them together. Shortly after Claudette leaves the house, Pam urges Les to end the affair or their marriage is over. Two days later, he calls Claudette, telling her he cannot stop thinking about her, and later makes an excuse to Pam to go and be with Claudette again. He is then caught at Claudette's house in his underwear by Donna, who concludes they are having an affair, though Claudette tries to explain it is not what she thinks. Donna tells Pam, who goes to Claudette's house and sets about destroying gifts from Les until Claudette says the presents are not hers, and Pam should ask Les about Christine. When Pam asks Les, he reveals that Christine is his secret feminine alter ego, and he likes wearing women's clothes, and that Claudette has been supporting this secret. Claudette later tells Pam that Les persuaded her not to reveal his secret and encourages Pam to speak to Les about it.

Claudette helps Pam and Les prepare for their "meeting" with Christine, and tells Pam that "seeing" Christine for the first time will be easier than she thinks. Thomas was "moved to tears" by the storyline when it aired. She explained: "When I watched Christine's first appearance, I got a bit teary. Even though I had been there and filmed it, when watching I just thought about the people going through the same thing in real life." She told Inside Soap that she hoped the storyline would affect the viewers in a similar way.