Sam Mitchell

The sister of infamous hardnuts, Grant and Phil, Sam was never short of someone to look out for her. Maybe that's why she was always looking for trouble. Whether it was running away to marry teenage sweetheart Ricky Butcher, or fleeing to Brazil to escape sentencing in connection with the murder of Den Watts, she's tested her family's loyalties to the limit.

Sam's had a string of romances with East End bad boys, including a doomed marriage to gangster Andy Hunter who died leaving her nothing but her engagement ring - so she could sell it and get her roots done.

But there was always one man who was there for her through thick and thin, the ever- dependable Ricky. When Sam discovered that she was pregnant, she lied that the baby was Ricky's and tried to get him back (even though he was with Bianca). The real father was, in fact, Jack Branning. His fiancee, Ronnie, paid Sam to leave Walford. Sam left Walford, with baby Richard, to live in Portugal with Grant.

Played by Danniella Westbrook