Mickey Miller

Fictional character from EastEnders

Mickey Miller is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Joe Swash. He made his first appearance on 15 April 2003. Introduced as a guest character, Mickey proved popular and was turned into a regular by executive producer Louise Berridge. The character is portrayed as a wheeler dealer, involved in various money making scams. A family was built around the character in 2004 when the other Millers moved to Albert Square. It was announced on 25 February 2008 that the characters of Mickey and his stepfather Keith had been axed by EastEnders' executive producer Diederick Santer. Mickey left on 1 July 2008. In July 2011, it was announced Swash would reprise his role for the departure storyline of his screen brother Darren and appeared for two episodes on 19 and 20 September 2011.

The role of Mickey Miller was played by Joe Swash. The actor had originally auditioned for the part of Spencer Moon, which was eventually cast to Christopher Parker. However, the BBC bosses saw potential, and six months later, Swash was offered the part of Spencer's friend, Mickey. The character was originally supposed to appear in only six episodes, but Mickey proved so popular with viewers that the soap's executive producer, Louise Berridge, decided to make him into a regular character. Swash has commented, "I'm pleased it happened that way, I have done it on my own merit rather than coming in as part of a family. It's a bit more special." They continued, "Mickey is always on the look out for a scam and a chance to make some easy money".

For his first year in the soap, little was known about the character's background, which Swash commented on in an interview with the Sunday Mirror in February 2004: "It's weird because we don't know anything about Mickey's background. I was filming Kat and Alfie's wedding and I thought, 'Hang on, where's my family? Why have I abandoned them on Christmas Day to go to some wedding?' But I'm sure it'll all become clear. I think they're going to get in some other characters around Mickey, some family and friends, so we'll find out more about him." Other family members included stepfather Keith (David Spinx), mother Rosie (Gerry Cowper) and half brother Darren (Charlie G. Hawkins). The family were publicised as "troublemakers" who were joining "in order to drum up conflict with existing characters." Louise Berridge said, "This lot are trouble. Even the dog is dodgy [ ] They're set to cause havoc all over the square ". The family's introduction in September 2004 followed a survey in The Mirror newspaper which suggested that 57% of EastEnders viewers thought the soap had lost its appeal. Joe Swash has revealed that giving Mickey a family was not the producers' original plan for the character, but he was pleased when he was told of the development one year prior to their introduction: "Before, I was in and out all the time. I didn't really know where I stood as an actor. Now that the family are here, I feel like Mickey's a more regular character. I'm really happy about it [ ] I didn't know exactly what they'd be like until about three or four months ago. They're really different which I think is good. I'm really pleased with them [ ] they're really close. They won't hear a bad word said about each other. They'll kid each other in private, but in public they rally round and stick up for each other [ ] [Mickey's] a bit of a mummy's boy." The following year, Mickey's family was completed by the introduction of his elder sister Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon), and his con artist father Mike Swann (a guest character played by Mark Wingett), who both made their first appearance in a special week of off set episodes, set in France in September 2005. In the storyline, Mickey went to France with some of his friends to visit his sister, and was surprised to see his estranged father, who had abandoned him as a child.