Roxy's attraction to Alfie always spurs all sorts of discussion. First, there are those people who are dead convinced that Roxy is nothing but a common slut (as opposed to Kat, who's the very embodiment of the Virgin Mary. Not). Then there are those people who are convinced that Roxy is still child-like in her immaturity, that she would never be attracted to Alfie, that their age difference is too great ... yadda yadda.
Let's put to bed a few myths that have evolved around Roxy and look at her for the positive character she always has been.
First of all, Roxy's emotional and intellectual development was stymied and stunted by her control freak of an older sister, Ronnie. (Even as I type, I can imagine the indignation of various souls at the Walford Web creche and the Digital Spy moral cowards banging their keyboards at someone even daring to criticise Saint Ronnie). It's not a criticism; it's a fact. Ronnie's excessive control over Roxy may, in part, have stemmed from Archie's removing her child from her, but Ronnie inherited a great deal of Archie's mannerisms and behaviour, as Roxy so often pointed out, and which Ronnie hated.
Anyway, Ronnie used Roxy as a surrogate child. She indulged and encouraged her irresponsible and immature behaviour and made sure she was always there to clean up whatever mess Roxy made. She also laid the mother of all guilt trips on Roxy by reminding her incessantly that this is what she, Ronnie, did - clean up Roxy's mess, pick up the broken pieces.
The result of all of that was that Roxy was encouraged to act far younger than her years until well into her thirties, which she did. When Roxy arrived on the Square, she was a 29 year-old child woman, under the thumb of her older and more manipulative sister. She dressed like a poor man's WAG, but she had a terrific sense of humour and delivered some cracking one-liners. Then her impulsive behaviour got her into trouble and she ended up sleeping, on the spur of the moment, with Jack Branning, the Sperminator, who, at the time, was not involved with Ronnie, although even if he weren't involved with her, Ronnie thought that he should have been behaving in full purity of thought with her in mind.
As a result of this entanglement, Roxy got pregnant, complicated by the fact that she was also sleeping with Sean Slater as well. So she really didn't know who her baby's father was.
As far as sluttery goes, Roxy simply isn't one. In the five years she's lived on the Square, she's slept with Jack Branning twice, had a relationship and married Sean Slater, slept with Jase Dyer once, had a relationship with Al Jenkins, which ended when he left the Square, and had the weirdest sort of relationship with Michael Moon. That's roughly one man per year. Hardly promiscuous.
For those people crying foul at her having slept with Jack - the common cry is that he was "her sister's man" - well, he wasn't. Their first encounter occurred when Ronnie and Jack were definitely in their early off periods of coupledom. If I recall correctly, Roxy had informed Ronnie that she saw Jack rogering his ex-wife across the desk in the office of R and R, which put paid to Ronnie's relationship with Jack. The second time occurred when Jack had only just received his divorce papers from Ronnie. As Rita Simons stated, herself, Roxy would never sleep with Jack while he was Ronnie's husband. Both instances occurred when Jack and Roxy were single.
Some folk cry out that Roxy deceived Sean. She didn't, really. I actually think that Roxy didn't know whether Amy's father were Sean or Jack. She'd slept with Jack once; she was having a no-strings-sex-only romp with Sean at regular intervals. She'd be forgiven for thinking Amy's dad was Sean. And as her feelings grew for Sean, she hoped and believed he was the father of her child - until Jack bullied her into sneaking a DNA test, which Archie and Suzy Branning revealed.
In fact, Suzy's home truths moment was a classic one, wasn't it? Shall we relive it?
Other criticisms of Roxy from various people include her perceived thickness, with everyone pointing out how Phil managed to steal £20k from her. Actually, he gave it back surreptitiously. He planted the money in Glenda's room, making it look as though Glenda had taken it all along and thus further alienating Roxy from Glenda and isolating Roxy.
But almost from the moment Alfie and Kat arrived back in Walford, there's been a chemistry between Alfie and Roxy. Now it appears that that chemistry is blossoming into love. For those of you who may have forgotten, Alfie and Kat were the closest of friends for the longest time before they fell in love. That was back when Kat was likeable and had a great heart. Now she's simply unlikeable and in possession of a great, insatiable twat.
And since Ronnie's departure, Roxy's grown up a great deal. Before anyone points me in the direction of Amy's accident, let me refresh your memories. For anyone with a small child, being with that child 24/7 without the stimulus of adult conversation can be stultifying. Roxy had no support unit with her child. She was living apart from Phil and Shirley, who were indifferent to her; and she got precious little support from the Brannings. Once when she needed a babysitter, she actually had to remind Carol that Carol was Amy's aunt.
On the night of Amy's accident, Roxy literally had to beg Jack to look after Amy. Jack, you'll recall, forgot all of the various other children he'd dropped about the place, to mourn for James. Jack was sulking and reluctantly agreed. He was late and she left Ben in charge of Amy until Jack returned. Even when Jack did return, he didn't dash upstairs for his daughter. Instead, he went into his flat to play loud, juvenile music.
During the custody battle with Jack for Amy, Roxy endured all sorts of bullying from various Brannings, from anger-management queen Bianca to Derek. For everyone slamming her for flirting with Max in the wake of that, Roxy was lonely. She was lonely, vulnerable and not really thinking straight after her ordeal in the courts. Part of her come-on to Max was a revenge motif; part of it was wanting a bit of fun. The fact that Max was even remotely tempted and flirted with her by text speaks far more volumes for Max, who was supposedly in a committed relationship then, than it does for Roxy, who - when he knocked her back - stopped the pursuit.
In one of the most remarkable scenes of late in Eastenders, when Incorrigible Cora the hypocrite called out Max for his part in the flirtation, Roxy stepped up to the plate and assumed total responsibilty. Now that's something you seldom see in Eastenders these days- a woman who isn't a victim and who assumes responsibility for her actions.
Several people seem to have trouble with the potential of a Roxy/Alfie association. They cite age difference. Roxy is 34; Alfie is 48. That's one year less than the difference in ages between Grant and Tiffany Mitchell. Billy Mitchell was more than 20 years older than both of his wives. Garry Hobbs was forty when he left with 25 year-old Dawn Swann.
People refer to the fact that Roxy calls Alfie "Granddad". It's an affectionate term with nothing to do with age. In fact, Kathy regularly called Phil Mitchell "Granddad" as a term of endearment, and she was eleven years his senior.
Others say Alfie isn't Roxy's "type." Roxy had a "type" when she was a party girl, and in point of fact, she's been maturing as an individual ever since she had the relationship with Al Jenkins. The very fact that Roxy approached Alfie and voiced her feelings rather than going the seduction and sex route first says a lot. Roxy was a girl who slept with a guy first and got to know him later. She was totally honest with Alfie, and he was brutally honest, in a kind way, with her. In effect, he basically let her know that he was a married man, and that leaving Kat meant leaving his family, the kids and the business, so it wasn't that simple. Roxy accepted that and backed off.
Her crowning moment came when she handed Kat her ass in proving to her that in all the time she stayed in the Vic, she never slept with Alfie, nor did he try to do so with her.
This is what's spooking Kat. She knows that Alfie doesn't do casual sex, that he learns to love and appreciate a woman through friendship first, the way he did with her; but she demands worship at her altar. She needs to stop and think what she's done to Alfie, to make him concentrate so fully on a mingy football team as an outlet for his feelings for Roxy, which he knows are wrong and to which he hasn't succumbed.
In the end, I hope it's Roxy who triumphs and that Kat gets kicked back to the gutter where she belong, but not after being told a few choice home truths. Speaking of which, here's another home truth moment, this time with Auntie Sal:-
Let's put to bed a few myths that have evolved around Roxy and look at her for the positive character she always has been.
First of all, Roxy's emotional and intellectual development was stymied and stunted by her control freak of an older sister, Ronnie. (Even as I type, I can imagine the indignation of various souls at the Walford Web creche and the Digital Spy moral cowards banging their keyboards at someone even daring to criticise Saint Ronnie). It's not a criticism; it's a fact. Ronnie's excessive control over Roxy may, in part, have stemmed from Archie's removing her child from her, but Ronnie inherited a great deal of Archie's mannerisms and behaviour, as Roxy so often pointed out, and which Ronnie hated.
Anyway, Ronnie used Roxy as a surrogate child. She indulged and encouraged her irresponsible and immature behaviour and made sure she was always there to clean up whatever mess Roxy made. She also laid the mother of all guilt trips on Roxy by reminding her incessantly that this is what she, Ronnie, did - clean up Roxy's mess, pick up the broken pieces.
The result of all of that was that Roxy was encouraged to act far younger than her years until well into her thirties, which she did. When Roxy arrived on the Square, she was a 29 year-old child woman, under the thumb of her older and more manipulative sister. She dressed like a poor man's WAG, but she had a terrific sense of humour and delivered some cracking one-liners. Then her impulsive behaviour got her into trouble and she ended up sleeping, on the spur of the moment, with Jack Branning, the Sperminator, who, at the time, was not involved with Ronnie, although even if he weren't involved with her, Ronnie thought that he should have been behaving in full purity of thought with her in mind.
As a result of this entanglement, Roxy got pregnant, complicated by the fact that she was also sleeping with Sean Slater as well. So she really didn't know who her baby's father was.
As far as sluttery goes, Roxy simply isn't one. In the five years she's lived on the Square, she's slept with Jack Branning twice, had a relationship and married Sean Slater, slept with Jase Dyer once, had a relationship with Al Jenkins, which ended when he left the Square, and had the weirdest sort of relationship with Michael Moon. That's roughly one man per year. Hardly promiscuous.
For those people crying foul at her having slept with Jack - the common cry is that he was "her sister's man" - well, he wasn't. Their first encounter occurred when Ronnie and Jack were definitely in their early off periods of coupledom. If I recall correctly, Roxy had informed Ronnie that she saw Jack rogering his ex-wife across the desk in the office of R and R, which put paid to Ronnie's relationship with Jack. The second time occurred when Jack had only just received his divorce papers from Ronnie. As Rita Simons stated, herself, Roxy would never sleep with Jack while he was Ronnie's husband. Both instances occurred when Jack and Roxy were single.
Some folk cry out that Roxy deceived Sean. She didn't, really. I actually think that Roxy didn't know whether Amy's father were Sean or Jack. She'd slept with Jack once; she was having a no-strings-sex-only romp with Sean at regular intervals. She'd be forgiven for thinking Amy's dad was Sean. And as her feelings grew for Sean, she hoped and believed he was the father of her child - until Jack bullied her into sneaking a DNA test, which Archie and Suzy Branning revealed.
In fact, Suzy's home truths moment was a classic one, wasn't it? Shall we relive it?
Other criticisms of Roxy from various people include her perceived thickness, with everyone pointing out how Phil managed to steal £20k from her. Actually, he gave it back surreptitiously. He planted the money in Glenda's room, making it look as though Glenda had taken it all along and thus further alienating Roxy from Glenda and isolating Roxy.
But almost from the moment Alfie and Kat arrived back in Walford, there's been a chemistry between Alfie and Roxy. Now it appears that that chemistry is blossoming into love. For those of you who may have forgotten, Alfie and Kat were the closest of friends for the longest time before they fell in love. That was back when Kat was likeable and had a great heart. Now she's simply unlikeable and in possession of a great, insatiable twat.
And since Ronnie's departure, Roxy's grown up a great deal. Before anyone points me in the direction of Amy's accident, let me refresh your memories. For anyone with a small child, being with that child 24/7 without the stimulus of adult conversation can be stultifying. Roxy had no support unit with her child. She was living apart from Phil and Shirley, who were indifferent to her; and she got precious little support from the Brannings. Once when she needed a babysitter, she actually had to remind Carol that Carol was Amy's aunt.
On the night of Amy's accident, Roxy literally had to beg Jack to look after Amy. Jack, you'll recall, forgot all of the various other children he'd dropped about the place, to mourn for James. Jack was sulking and reluctantly agreed. He was late and she left Ben in charge of Amy until Jack returned. Even when Jack did return, he didn't dash upstairs for his daughter. Instead, he went into his flat to play loud, juvenile music.
During the custody battle with Jack for Amy, Roxy endured all sorts of bullying from various Brannings, from anger-management queen Bianca to Derek. For everyone slamming her for flirting with Max in the wake of that, Roxy was lonely. She was lonely, vulnerable and not really thinking straight after her ordeal in the courts. Part of her come-on to Max was a revenge motif; part of it was wanting a bit of fun. The fact that Max was even remotely tempted and flirted with her by text speaks far more volumes for Max, who was supposedly in a committed relationship then, than it does for Roxy, who - when he knocked her back - stopped the pursuit.
In one of the most remarkable scenes of late in Eastenders, when Incorrigible Cora the hypocrite called out Max for his part in the flirtation, Roxy stepped up to the plate and assumed total responsibilty. Now that's something you seldom see in Eastenders these days- a woman who isn't a victim and who assumes responsibility for her actions.
Several people seem to have trouble with the potential of a Roxy/Alfie association. They cite age difference. Roxy is 34; Alfie is 48. That's one year less than the difference in ages between Grant and Tiffany Mitchell. Billy Mitchell was more than 20 years older than both of his wives. Garry Hobbs was forty when he left with 25 year-old Dawn Swann.
People refer to the fact that Roxy calls Alfie "Granddad". It's an affectionate term with nothing to do with age. In fact, Kathy regularly called Phil Mitchell "Granddad" as a term of endearment, and she was eleven years his senior.
Others say Alfie isn't Roxy's "type." Roxy had a "type" when she was a party girl, and in point of fact, she's been maturing as an individual ever since she had the relationship with Al Jenkins. The very fact that Roxy approached Alfie and voiced her feelings rather than going the seduction and sex route first says a lot. Roxy was a girl who slept with a guy first and got to know him later. She was totally honest with Alfie, and he was brutally honest, in a kind way, with her. In effect, he basically let her know that he was a married man, and that leaving Kat meant leaving his family, the kids and the business, so it wasn't that simple. Roxy accepted that and backed off.
Her crowning moment came when she handed Kat her ass in proving to her that in all the time she stayed in the Vic, she never slept with Alfie, nor did he try to do so with her.
This is what's spooking Kat. She knows that Alfie doesn't do casual sex, that he learns to love and appreciate a woman through friendship first, the way he did with her; but she demands worship at her altar. She needs to stop and think what she's done to Alfie, to make him concentrate so fully on a mingy football team as an outlet for his feelings for Roxy, which he knows are wrong and to which he hasn't succumbed.
In the end, I hope it's Roxy who triumphs and that Kat gets kicked back to the gutter where she belong, but not after being told a few choice home truths. Speaking of which, here's another home truth moment, this time with Auntie Sal:-
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