I loved Paul Nicholas in Just Good Friends. This character is SO different - really creepy and evil. He's going a fantastic job - great actor.

He just reminds me too much of Lord Voldemort. He seems a bit out of place in a soap that purports to reflect gritty London life.

A bit panto and unconvincing

Agreed... He's just a bit naff. There's nothing menacing or intriguing about him, he just creeps around in the shadows twirling his moustache.

He's very unnerving and creepy, the Halloween episode had me a bit jumpy as I was wondering where Gavin was as well as Ben, Kathy etc. He reminds me a lot of Johnny Allen actually.

To be honest I had absolutely no idea it was Paul Nicholas until I read it on here somewhere! He's virtually unrecognisable from his heyday in things like Just Good Friends .

Has the character of Gavin ever featured on EastEnders prior to the current 'Kathy's return' storyline? I can only recall Pete Beale and James Willmott-Brown as the men in Kathy's life.

What I don't get is the characters know that Gavin is a wrong'n and a control freak bully, but none of them seem to accept that he has been like this towards Kathy for years, and she is genuinely scared/controlled by him.

I would have thought that Phil, at least, would understand it given that Gavin managed to break him!

I think people will see him as a better villain when we see him doing more than walking around in the shadows, or when what he did to Phil is revealed. Kathy has told people how evil he is but it is much harder to get people to understand the horror of someone that is psychologically abusive vs physically.