The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 2004, by order of first appearance.

Wilfred Atkins

Wilfred Atkins, played by Dudley Sutton, is Nana Moon's (Hilda Braid) fiancée, whom she meets on the bus travelling to her holiday in Eastbourne. She brings him back to Walford in March 2004 to meet her grandsons Alfie and Spencer (Shane Richie and Christopher Parker). Alfie is cautious of Wilfred at first, thinking he is only interested in Nana's money, but Wilfred tells Alfie that he is rich and has fallen in love with Nana. Alfie's wife Kat (Jessie Wallace) later agrees that Wilfred can move into The Queen Victoria pub when he and Nana are married.

Alfie is later enraged that Wilfred has not booked a honeymoon, and takes him to the travel agents to book one. Wilfred later admires the war medals of Nana's late husband William Moon (Dickon Tolson), then surprises Nana with the news that he has booked a honeymoon in the West Indies. Alfie welcomes him into the family. On his wedding day, Wilfred gets nervous and tries to run away, only to be caught by Alfie at Walford East station. He confides in Alfie that he is ill, and does not want Nana to become his nurse. Alfie agrees to let Wilfred leave, but when he hugs Wilfred he feels a sharp pain, and opens Wilfred's jacket to reveal William's medals.

Wilfred is exposed as a con artist. Alfie does not want to have to break the news to his grandmother, so he takes Wilfred back to the pub, where he confesses to stealing the medals. Nana reveals that she knew all along and forgives Wilfred, but he flees Walford along with £30,000 that he has conned out of Pat Evans (Pam St. Clement).

Chrissie Watts

Chrissie Watts, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman, first appears in April 2004 as the second wife of the show's "most enduring character", Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), becoming a prominent regular for the next 18 months. In 2005 she is the focus of one of "the programme's biggest and most high-profile narratives" when she kills her husband in a fit of rage during the special 20th anniversary episode. The broadcast, airing on 18 February, was watched by 14.34 million people, with "almost 60% of possible viewers" tuning in to see Chrissie take revenge. The character was credited by former head of BBC Drama Serials, Mal Young, as "anchoring the success of the anniversary storyline", and was described on the news programme BBC Breakfast as the "centrepiece" of the show, with the on-screen drama playing out over the course of the year and culminating in Chrissie's departure in December.

Jane Beale

Jane Beale, played by Laurie Brett, makes her first appearance on 22 June 2004 and soon starts a romance with Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt). Jane later strays and has an affair with Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), though her and Ian overcome this and marry in 2007. Soon after, Ian's adopted son Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell) returns to Walford and mistakenly shoots Jane in the stomach, leaving her unable to have children. Brett took maternity leave in 2011, and Jane departed on 19 May. Jane returned to screens on 8 November before departing the series on 27 January 2012. The character returned in 2014, before leaving again in 2017. In July 2024, the character returned for a short stint to facilitate for Bobby Beale's (Clay Milner Russell) exit story.

Eddie

Eddie, played by Daren Elliott Holmes, made his first appearance on 5 July 2004 as the right-hand man and personal bodyguard of Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs), the reigning crime kingpin of Albert Square in Walford - a fictionalized borough in East London. Throughout his duration on the show, Eddie helps Andy expand his criminal empire and gangland reign upon Walford. This involves Andy ordering Eddie to get the upper hand over his rivals, as well as celebrate his wedding to local businesswoman Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) - which is nearly ruined after her cousin Billy (Perry Fenwick) and ex-boyfriend Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi) try to warn Sam's mother Peggy (Barbara Windsor) about Andy's scheme to extract control of the Mitchell family assets. However, they fail and Andy later sends Eddie to warn off Billy and Minty. It is at this point where Eddie has crossed path with Andy's best-friend Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) and sworn nemesis Alfie Moon (Shane Richie).

Towards Christmas 2004, Eddie observes Andy employing Billy's friend Paul Trueman (Gary Beadle) into the business so he could expand his criminal empire on drug dealing. When Eddie approaches the rendezvous point to carry out Andy's preparations, however, Andy deduces that Paul has set them up in a police sting operation - which prompts him to have Eddie leave the area and get rid of all evidence that traces their would-be involvement in the apparent drug operation. Eddie does so and Andy later has Paul killed in retribution, which inevitably sparks a conflict between Paul's adopted father Patrick (Rudolph Walker) and Andy himself when Paul's body is recovered the following month.

Soon afterwards, Andy orders Eddie to investigate Alfie's two cousins Jake (Joel Beckett) and Danny (Jake Maskall) upon becoming enemies with them. In doing so, Eddie finds out that Jake and Danny are henchmen working for their mob boss Johnny Allen (Billy Murray). He subsequently informs Andy, who thereupon alerts Johnny to the square so he can take care of Jake and Danny. It is then Johnny begins to usurp Andy from his gangland reign, up to the point where Andy rants against Johnny in front of Eddie and their fellow neighbours in The Queen Victoria public house. Andy's outburst towards Sam prompts Johnny and his friend Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), the pub's landlord, to ban Andy from the pub and throw him out along with Eddie. Thereafter Andy tells Eddie that he plans to con Johnny out of his £750,000 in a criminal transaction between them. While Eddie attempts to warn Andy about crossing Johnny with his plan, Andy insists that it is doing ahead regardless. This causes Eddie to observe Andy's go-ahead with his plot by having Danny help out, after Jake was originally authorized to help until Johnny cut him out of getting involved at the last minute.

On the night Andy puts his scheme into motion, Eddie appears to contribute after helping Andy flee Walford with the £750,000. However, as they drive out of the city, Eddie pulls over near a motorway bridge and claims that he needs to go to the toilet. Andy gives him permission to go, but it later turns out Eddie has actually betrayed Andy by alerting Johnny of his plan and location. Off-screen, Eddie witnesses Johnny and Jake arrive at where Andy is to intercept him - with Jake retaking Johnny's £750,000 from Andy whilst Johnny himself orders Andy to take a walk with him on the motorway bridge. This causes Andy to discover Eddie's betrayal too late, and he reluctantly does so. Moments later, with Jake and Eddie watching from their cars, Johnny kills Andy by forcing him off the motorway bridge - which causes Andy to fall to his death. Johnny then returns to his car with Jake and they flee from the scene, though not before Johnny tells Eddie "I don't wanna see you again"; which implies that Johnny has ordered Eddie to leave Walford for good in order to destroy all traces of his involvement to Andy's death. Eddie complies with Johnny's orders regardless, and leaves Walford for good.

The character Eddie makes his final appearance on 18 February 2005, the show's 20th anniversary episode where Andy is ironically killed off towards the broadcast's climax.

Rowan Kennedy

Rowan Kennedy, played by Natasha Williams, is a nurse that appears on a recurring basis over 12 years intermittently. She originally appears on 11 August 2004 when she treats Dot Branning (June Brown) after she is diagnosed with kidney cancer. She next appears four years later on 31 October 2008 when she treats Max Branning (Jake Wood) after he is run over by a car. She later treats Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) after a fall, and Max again when he gets his finger stuck in a bowling ball. On 20 December 2010, she treats Ryan Malloy (Neil McDermott) when he is hospitalised after being poisoned by his wife Janine (Charlie Brooks). A month later, on 20 January 2011, she appears when Connor Stanley (Arinze Kene) is in hospital after being assaulted by Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer).

Kennedy's most recent appearance was on 27 June 2016, when she tends to Amy Mitchell (Abbie Burke), when her father, Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) suspects she has eaten cocaine. Amy says her pet rabbit had eaten her mother, Roxy Mitchell's (Rita Simons) "sherbert", and nurse Kennedy asks if she consumed any herself, to which Amy says she hasn't. She then tells Jack that social services will want to speak to them. Williams, who played Kennedy, returned to EastEnders in 2024 as a different character named Dolores, who was seen in flashback scenes as a victim of serial sex-offender Pastor Clayton (Howard Saddler), whom he raped in 2001.

Sarah Cairns

Sarah Cairns, played by Alison Pargeter, is a barmaid in Angie's Den nightclub. She first appears when Martin Fowler (James Alexandrou) and his friends Mickey Miller (Joe Swash), Spencer Moon (Chris Parker), Ronny Ferreira (Ray Panthaki) and Tariq Larousi (Nabil Elouahabi) all go out for the evening to have a pretend to have a stag party to get free drinks. Meanwhile, a drunk Tariq is seen flirting with a barmaid named Sarah who works at Angie's Den nightclub, Tariq already knows Sarah by her name suggesting that there was a past connection but Sarah appears to be disinterested. Later on, A drunk Martin starts flirting with Sarah, She mentions to Martin that her job agency often send her to work in the Walford area, and always takes cabs there due to safety, implying previous barmaid work in the vicinity. The following morning, Martin wakes up in Sarah's bed. Martin admits to Sarah that he has made a mistake as he is married, and Sarah seems to back off. However, it soon emerges that Sarah is mentally unstable and begins stalking Martin as well as sending him text messages declaring her love for him. Sarah and Martin both meet up at Angie's Den again, where Sarah believes it's fate. She thinks Martin is just like her and can't resist her. Martin explains to Sarah that it's not possible that he could be with her. Sarah asks Martin if he still wants her, but Martin confesses that he loves Sonia. Sarah believes that love is about sharing, but Martin insists he loves Sonia. Sarah questions Martin on why he hasn't told Sonia about her, and Martin lies, saying that he has and Sonia has forgiven him. However, Martin tells Sarah not to see him again.