Global InformationKat Slater information
| Kat Slater | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2000–2005, 2010–2016, 2018–present | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 2003 18 September 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Tony Jordan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | John Yorke (2000, 2018) Bryan Kirkwood (2010) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kathleen "Kat" Mitchell (also Slater and Moon) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Jessie Wallace. She was also played by Kate Peck in a flashback in 2001 and Sumar-Elise Sandford in a flashback in 2018. Kat is the second eldest Slater family sister and first appeared on 18 September 2000. Kat's usual dress is very short skirts and leopard-print tops, with much make-up and heavy fake tan. Her initial stint saw her involved in many storylines, most significantly in a plot twist that sees her supposedly sister Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), revealed to be her daughter after she was raped by her uncle Harry Slater (Michael Elphick) as a child. Kat and Zoe's relationship is tested several times, and a feud forms when they compete against each other for the affection of Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey). Another key aspect to the character's storylines is her marriage to Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), prior to which she became briefly engaged to Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs); after Kat jilted Andy on their wedding day, he blackmailed her into sleeping with him in his revenge bid against Alfie and Kat. Kat was absent between November 2004 and May 2005 following Wallace's maternity leave, but returned early to tie in with Zoe’s exit storyline. Kat later left the soap on 25 December 2005.
Wallace reprised the role in 2010 and Kat returned on 17 September, before taking leave from the soap again between January and June 2012. Kat departed the soap again in May 2015, returning briefly between December 2015 and January 2016. Wallace reprised her role as Kat in the six-part spin-off series Kat & Alfie: Redwater in 2017. Following the confirmation that Redwater would not return for a second series, it was announced that Kat would instead return to EastEnders; she returned on 22 March 2018. On 26 January 2020, Wallace was suspended from the soap for two months due to her off-screen behaviour; she ultimately returned to work when production of the series resumed during the COVID-19 pandemic.[1][2] Kat departed on 23 March 2020[3] and returned on 7 September 2020.[4]
In the events of Kat's second stint on the soap, in what was called "the biggest soap story in probably the history of soaps", Kat and Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) both give birth on the same day, but Ronnie's son, James Branning, dies and while Kat is in hospital and her son, Tommy Moon, is unattended, Ronnie swaps James and Tommy. The storyline received over 6,000 complaints, making it the second most complained about EastEnders storyline. Kat's storylines also include suffering a miscarriage, an affair with Derek Branning (Jamie Foreman) which briefly ends her marriage with Alfie, becoming penniless and permanently scarred in a fire and becoming a millionaire. In 2015, Kat's most prominent storyline – her rape, is revisited when it is revealed that Kat had given birth to twins and she has a secret son, Zoe's twin brother and this facilitates the character's second exit from the soap. In Kat & Alfie: Redwater, Kat discovers her son is a murderous Catholic priest, Dermott Dolan (Oisín Stack).
Since her reintroduction to the show in 2018, Kat's storylines have focused on the breakdown of her and Alfie's marriage and her separation from Tommy and their twin sons Bert and Ernie, a relationship with Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami), feuds with both her cousin Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and enemy Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), embarking on a relationship with Phil after sleeping with him, surviving an accidental hit-and-run by her friend Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), taking temporary custody of Tommy's half-sister Scarlett Butcher (Tabitha Byron), a feud with Scarlett's mother Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks), clashing with Phil's sister Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) and his ex-wife Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) over the Mitchell empire, and supporting Stacey's daughter Lily Slater (Lillia Turner) through her underage pregnancy. In September 2023, Kat marries Phil. Wallace has won multiple awards for her portrayal of Kat, who has become one of the show's best loved characters.
- ^ Stolworthy, Jacob (27 January 2020). "EastEnders star Jessie Wallace 'suspended' from Kat Slater role for 'being tipsy on set". The Independent. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ Alexander, Susannah (1 June 2020). "EastEnders star Jessie Wallace teases her return to the soap after suspension". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ Dainty, Sophie (23 March 2020). "EastEnders airs sudden exit for Kat Slater, but will she be back?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ Hughes, Jonathan (7 September 2020). "16 huge EastEnders Autumn storyline spoilers as the soap returns". Radio Times. Retrieved 30 January 2021.