User:AnemoneProjectors/Tommy Moon

Tommy Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He is the son of Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) and Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd). Tommy is initially played by two babies named Ralfie White and Shane though in November 2013, Richie talked about Ralf (then aged three years) playing Tommy and made no mention of Shane. Additionally, a 2014 cast photo showed only one child in the role of Tommy. Shay Crotty took over the role from White in December 2015. In the spin-off series Kat & Alfie: Redwater, which started in May 2017, he is played by Henry Proctor.

EastEnders
Tommy is born on screen on 30 December 2010. In the following episode, Kat is taken to hospital and leaves her father Charlie Slater (Derek Martin) to look after Tommy. However, Charlie joins a party downstairs in The Queen Victoria public house. Meanwhile, Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) discovers that her own son, James Branning, who was born on the same day as Kat's, has died of sudden infant death syndrome and desperately tries to get help. When she hears Tommy crying, she sneaks into The Queen Victoria and decides to swap the children. Ronnie eventually regrets her actions but by the time she decides to swap them back, James has been found by Alfie and Jack has returned to the country and meets Tommy, thinking he is James. When Kat sees the baby in hospital, she refuses to believe it is Tommy as he looks different, but Alfie convinces her it is because he has died. When a midwife visits Ronnie, she is surprised at how quickly James's club foot appears to have gone. Ronnie is denied access to the funeral by Kat but goes anyway, hiding behind a tree. She later realises she has to put an end to the situation and takes Tommy back to Kat during the wake. Ronnie's attempts to explain that the baby is Tommy are all misunderstood and Kat demands that the baby be taken away from her.

Ronnie continues to care for Tommy but starts behaving erratically. She later returns to the hospital where she gave birth and meets her midwife, Diane McLean (Hannah Kew), and realises she has to give Tommy back to Kat immediately. She tells Jack that the baby is not his son, and then explains to Kat what happened on the night James died. Kat refuses to believe it but takes Tommy, while Ronnie hands herself into the police. Jack says an emotional goodbye the next day as he hands Tommy over to social services. Alfie is interviewed by a social worker, but Kat leaves the hospital unable to cope. However, Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) tells Kat that it is a miracle that Tommy is alive, so Kat returns to the hospital to be interviewed, and they are reunited with Tommy. Although Kat struggles to bond with Tommy at first, and refuses to say his name, she soon adjusts and she and Alfie have Tommy christened; his godparents are Jean and Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt). However Alfie and Kat end their marriage and they share custody of Tommy. Michael tells Tommy that he is his real father, angering Alfie, though Tommy is still too young to understand. Michael dies in November 2013 after being stabbed by Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks), however, later that month Kat and Alfie reunite. In 2014, Kat gives birth to Tommy's twin brothers Bert and Ernie Moon (Freddie and Stanley Beale). Kat is badly burnt in a fire and after she becomes depressed, separating from Alfie, which affects Tommy negatively. Kat eventually reunites with Alfie. They win a million pounds on a scratchcard and depart for a new life in Spain. Kat returns on Christmas Day to surprise her relative, Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner), without Alfie and the children. Later, Alfie returns with Tommy, Bert and Ernie, annoyed that Kat has left them without warning.

Development
In September 2010, Shane Richie, who plays Kat's husband Alfie Moon, teased an upcoming storyline involving Alfie and Kat. Although he gave no details of the plot, he said that when he was offered the chance to return to the show to reprise his role as Alfie, he was informed of the storyline, which would be ongoing for "the best part of a year or maybe two years." He said it would be "the biggest soap story in probably the history of soaps," and that he and Wallace were excited to be involved. On 11 November 2010, details of the upcoming storyline were revealed by the BBC.

Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said of the baby swap storyline: "This story built on the rich history both characters have built up over the years and the story team have worked hard to make this convincing and powerful. Although EastEnders is a fictional drama we have, of course, taken great care to thoroughly research this storyline, which will reflect a [sic] issue close to the hearts of some of our audience. We're fortunate to have two wonderful actresses, Jessie Wallace and Samantha Womack, who understand the need to portray such an emotive subject sensitively. Viewers will know that Ronnie has had a difficult past, losing both her daughter and father in the last couple of years. When she loses the one thing she's always wanted, she acts on impulse in a moment of sheer grief and desperation." Kirkwood later said the scenes would be believable and the storyline bold and gritty. He confirmed that a maternity nurse had been consulted on what would happen in real life, saying the crew made sure the two babies were born in different circumstances. The baby swap scenes are balanced with scenes of celebration elsewhere, to show "a community with a lot of love" in the hope it would "counter the inevitable darkness of this story."

It was reported by The Sun that during filming, the cast and crew were so overcome with emotion that filming had to be stopped for an hour. Womack said she could not stop crying and could not switch off after returning home at the end of filming. An expensive silicone doll was used for the baby but it was so lifelike that it upset many people on set. Womack said that when Ronnie finds the child dead, she is "rambling" so a lot of the scene was unscripted. Ronnie goes to her mother's house and screams "Mummy!", another scene that affected many cast and crew members. It was reported on 24 December that several scenes had been edited prior to the broadcast. Shots of Ronnie touching James's cold hand were reportedly edited out and the sound of Tommy crying was toned down. A scene showing Kat in blood-soaked pyjamas after haemorrhaging was also edited. The baby's funeral was filmed on 20 November 2010, at a graveyard in north London.

The scene where Ronnie swaps the children was called "powerful", while a reporter for the Daily Mail said it would be "harrowing". The Daily Mail reported on 22 December that programme bosses at the BBC were preparing for a large number of complaints over the swap. Around 3,400 were received, with viewers branding the storyline "insensitive", "irresponsible" and "desperate". Roz Laws from the Sunday Mercury called the plot "shocking and ridiculous" and asked "are we really supposed to believe that Kat won't recognise that the baby looks different?", although this comment was made prior to the episode where Kat didn't recognise 'her' baby. The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) praised the storyline, and its director Joyce Epstein explained, "We are very grateful to EastEnders for their accurate depiction of the devastating effect that the sudden death of an infant can have on a family. We hope that this story will help raise the public's awareness of cot death, which claims 300 babies' lives each year." According to overnight figures, 10.6 million people watched 3 January 2011 episode, in which Kat claims the dead baby is not her son and Ronnie struggles to bond with Tommy.

Reception
In February 2011, the storyline was nominated in the Soap Bubble Awards under the name of 'baby swap', in the category 'Best Baby Drama'. In May, it was nominated for 'Best Storyline' at the 2011 British Soap Awards, under the title "Ronnie swaps her baby for Kat's".

A writer for The Sun TV Magazine said that in Redwater second episode, Proctor gave a "stand-out performance [...] as [Tommy] looks for answers about his big brother."