User:AnemoneProjectors/Madison Drake and Alexandra D'Costa

Madison Drake, played by Seraphina Beh, and Alexandra D'Costa, played by Sydney Craven, are fictional characters from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. They first appear in episode 5426, broadcast in the United Kingdom on 17 January 2017. They are involved in a bullying storyline along with Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield) and Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper).

Storylines
Madison and Alexandra attend the drama club at Walford High School with Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper). They are both unfriendly towards her when Louise tries to speak to them. When Travis Law-Hughes (Alex James-Phelps) greets Louise, they tease her when they notice she has a crush on him. They tell Louise's friend Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield) that they have treated Louise better than she has following her teasing over the recent bus crash and advise Louise to get her own back. Alexandra and Madison help Louise come up with a plan to get revenge on Shakil Kazemi (Shaheen Jafargholi) and Keegan Baker (Zack Morris), who have teased Louise about how scared she was during the crash, and Louise inadvertently reveals to the girls about a naked photo that Shakil sent to Bex. Under Madison and Alexandra's instruction, Louise gets Bex's phone and sends Shakil's naked photo to them. Madison and Alexandra then lie to Louise in an attempt to cause friction between her and Bex, and spread information about Bex's private life online. After the police get involved regarding the naked photo of Shakil, Bex takes the blame, but Louise confesses that Madison and Alexandra were responsible and she should think about bringing them into it. Madison and Alexandra overhear Bex insult them when she confronts Louise over their friendship. In the toilets, Madison and Alexandra push Bex, Madison tears her shirt and Alexandra writes "dirty" on her face while Louise stands outside. Bex then admits to the headteacher, Mrs Robyn Lund (Polly Highton), and teacher Mr Gethin Pryce (Cerith Flinn), that Louise, Madison and Alexandra were responsible for sending the photo, but they deny knowledge of either incident.

Alexandra and Madison continue to bully Bex, including sticking chewing gum in her hair, insulting her weight, smashing her guitar, and tricking her into eating mud, which they film. Bex's mother Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) reports Bex's bullying to the school but keeps Louise's name out of it on Bex's request. Bex and Louise try to fix their friendship but Bex is upset that Louise denise she is friends with Bex to Madison and Alexandra. Madison and Alexandra tell Louise they have to report to Mrs Lund every day because of her, and then agree with each other that she has disrespected them and must not get away with it. They then bully Louise by hiding her school books, causing her to get detention and miss a drama rehearsal. They also laugh at her crush on Travis, while also making fun of Michelle Fowler (Jenna Russell). Louise tells Alexandra and Madison how alcohol has affected her family, so they use it against her by tricking her into hosting a party and spiking her drinks, getting her drunk, but they worry when she is so drunk that she coughs up blood and collapses. Madison and Alexandra tell Louise and her family that Travis spiked her drink. Louise believes Travis could have been framed, but Madison and Alexandra convince her that he is lying. Eventually, Alexandra tells Louise and Bex that Travis may not have been responsible for spiking her drink and Louise insists that Madison and Alexandra are still her friends, but Bex worries that they have targeted Louise. Louise and Travis start dating but Madison and Alexandra attempt to meddle but ultimately fail. Keegan tells Louise that they had sex at the party and Madison and Alexandra back up Keegan's story so she believes it. Madison and Alexandra then tell Louise that Keegan has chlamydia, and he gave it to another student. When Travis ends his relationship with Louise, Madison and Alexandra tell him he did the right thing because Louise is "that kind of girl".

When Louise pulls out of playing Juliet in the school showcase opposite Travis, Alexandra quickly asks for the part and is successful, telling Louise this. During rehearsal, Alexandra's acting is wooden but she confidentially kisses Travis despite having to act shy. Later, Alexandra and Madison overhear Bex telling Shakil that she hopes Alexandra will make a fool of herself in the showcase so Alexandra decides to take revenge. Alexandra untunes Bex's guitar, and when she is retuning it, a string snaps so she goes to find a replacement. Alexandra and Madison confront her and lock her in a cupboard. This causes Alexandra to miss her part in the showcase and Louise replaces her. Shakil hears Bex's ordeal over her microphone and broadcasts it over Louise's performance. Alexandra is angry to discover that Louise replaced her, but she and Madison are then called to Mrs Lund's office.

Development
Beh's casting in EastEnders was announced on Twitter by her management, Hero Talent Group.

Alexandra and Madison were called "mean girls" by a writer for What's on TV?, while Duncan Lindsay from the Metro said they are not as "trustworthy" as they seem. Lindsay later called them "vicious" and "evil teens".

Their revenge plan against Shakil was called "spiteful" by Sophie Dainty from Digital Spy.

A writer in The Sun TV Soap supplement described Alexandra and Madison as as "terrible twosome", saying that since their introduction, things had not gone well for the other young characters in the show, and hoped that they get a comeuppance.

Laura-Jayne Tyler of Inside Soap dubbed Alexandra the "vilest villain in soap right now", and added "No one has us screaming more abuse at the telly!" Tyler later said Alexandra was "a vicious, spiteful girl... but she has a spark about her." She compared the character to a young Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon) and hoped she might be redeemed in the future.

The bullying storyline was praised by Duncan Lindsay, who said, "it's a storyline that is worth taking note" and pointing out that "the bullying and pressures and dangers of sharing around sex pictures are highly relevant and important issues to cover." He said that it is a real-life problem, and "No current teenager will go through school without witnessing or being on the receiving end of some online nastiness. It's a worry for parents, teachers and kids and it must be a horrendous pressure more than ever having to endure all of that as a teenager as well as passing shitloads of exams and dealing with your changing body and hormones. So EastEnders should be commended for taking the time with this story and not making it a sub plot. Showing the bullying commencing in its infancy, showing how it affects kids both at home and school and showing how peer pressure can make friends turn on each other or do horrendous things are all important factors in making it realistic." Lindsay, who previously worked in education, said that "what EastEnders are representing in schools is absolutely spot on. It may well be just scratching the surface—schoolkids can be vicious to each other (sometimes without realising the damage they are doing) [...] However, EastEnders is nailing the representation of the various young characters you find in school environments—victims of bullying like Bex, those desperate for acceptance and popularity like Louise, those with good intentions who get pulled along by bad crowds like Shakil, those who are nasty and vicious without perhaps realising how far they are going like Madison and Alexandra and complete bullies like Keegan." Lindsay went on to say, "It's easy to dismiss a story as just being 'a teen one' but this is real, human drama affecting the lives of many young and older people alike. And the actors involved are doing a fantastic job. [...] We all know teenage girls like Alexandra and Madison so Sydney Craven and Seraphina Beh are doing a commendable job with those bitchy characters". He also said the storyline "carries an important message, it's relatable and realistic, it involves a strong group of up-and-coming actors and it isn't dominating the show anywhere near what is being hysterically implied".


 * http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/feature/a827894/soap-characters-believed-wrong-people/
 * http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-06-06/eastenders-madison-and-alexandras-backstory-to-be-explored