The West Enders: Episode Two

The next family in our cast of characters is the Olivier family. The Oliviers are also immigrants to the UK; this time from France. Esmée (seated) and Yvette (standing next to the tree) couldn’t be more different. They are children of a French father and a French-Moroccan mother, both fiercely secular. Their mother was a feminist writer who focussed on issues of colonialism, feminism in Islam and North Africa, and in modern France. Esmée is a dentist and works in the Medical Centre, as well as a single mother. The father of her daughter Layla remains a mystery; Yvette suspects a former North African boyfriend but Esmée is silent on the subject. Esmée is something of a workaholic while Yvette has a reputation as a hard partier. After finishing school, she worked at odd jobs, saving her money, and then spent a year travelling around the world instead of going to university. Yvette works as barmaid in the King George III. Both sisters share an independent nature but friends who know them well describe them both as warm and generous.

 The Ekpo-Holmes family are also inhabitants of the doll house. The woman standing next to the window is Emma Ekpo, whose family are also immigrants to the UK, this time from Nigeria. Emma is the Creative Director at a design firm. Her husband Marvin Holmes is a singer and television presenter. Marvin’s father is a British Afro-Caribbean whose family came to the UK from Jamaica. His mother is from Scotland. Emma and Marvin have one daughter, Viviane, introduced in Episode One. Monique Holmes, seated in the chair, is Marvin’s paternal first cousin. Monique works as a nurse in the Medical Centre and is close friends with Esmée Olivier as well as being very close to Emma. Viviane adores Monique, who loves to spoil her young cousin. The doll house wouldn’t be complete without the Queen of Fashion Dolls, Barbie Roberts. Barbie is an entrepreneur, a wealthy business woman with interests all over the world. She was running a modelling agency but decided that she wanted to relax a bit more. Ken Armstrong is her fiancé, a former model in the Barbie agency, and some people whisper, Barbie’s toy boy, as he is somewhat younger than she is.

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