Mercy Chubb (also Olubunmi) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders and its Internet spin-off EastEnders: E20, played by Bunmi Mojekwu. Mercy is one of four main characters in EastEnders: E20, alongside Zsa Zsa Carter (Emer Kenny), Leon Small (Sam Attwater) and Fatboy (Ricky Norwood). She was the only character from the spin-off not to be automatically transitioned into EastEnders. It was subsequently announced that she would join EastEnders due to positive reaction to the character, and made her first appearance in the soap on 31 May 2010. In May 2011, it was announced that Mercy was to leave EastEnders and she departed on 12 July 2011.
Appearances
EastEnders: E20
In series 1 of EastEnders: E20, Mercy, who is friends with Fatboy, is trying to create a project for the local church with the youth minister Benjamin (Damien Lynch), to attempt to bring younger people to the church, and if it is successful, Mercy's grandmother (played by Jay Byrd), will fund her university place. She enlists Fatboy's help but his ideas leave them humiliated. Mercy, along with the others, ends up squatting in 89b George Street, where she takes a pregnancy test and then tells her grandmother she will not be coming home. She goes to a clinic to discuss abortion, and later tells Fatboy she is pregnant. It is soon revealed that Benjamin, who is married to Celia (Marsha Henry) is the father, but Fatboy accuses Leon of being the father, and after an argument, Mercy doubles over in pain and is rushed to hospital. She suffers a miscarriage and Benjamin tells her it was probably for the best. Back at home, Fatboy looks after her. She attends Leon's boxing match where Fatboy gives her the completed project. Knowing they can no longer stay at the flat, Fatboy invites her and the others back to his house but she decides to return home to her grandmother.
Mercy makes a cameo appearance in series 2 of EastEnders: E20 when she witnesses an argument between Fatboy and Naz Mehmet (Emaa Hussen) that Zsa Zsa also gets involved in.
EastEnders
Several months after the events of E20 first series, Mercy attempts to contact Fatboy as she has returned to Walford following a visit to her parents in Nigeria. She finds out he is at a party in Hampshire so she travels there with Billie Jackson (Devon Anderson). Mercy and Fatboy are extremely pleased to see each other but when a fight breaks out, they escape into Fatboy's van. Mercy then returns to Walford with her friends. Mercy's grandmother Grace (now played by Ellen Thomas) arrives in Walford and urges Mercy to tell Fatboy of their plans to return to Lagos permanently, however, when Mercy cannot find the right moment, Grace tells him. Fatboy soon realises that neither Mercy nor Grace want to leave London, and after Mercy hands in the keys to their home, he gets them to meet and helps them to realise it for themselves. They move into a property on Albert Square.
After an argument between Mercy and Fatboy, she pushes him and he falls onto a tree planted in memory of Trina Johnson (Sharon Duncan Brewster), breaking it. Worried that Trina's ex-husband Lucas Johnson (Don Gilet) will be angry with them, they enlist Leon and Zsa Zsa's help to replace the tree. However, as they dig up the tree, they discover the body of Owen Turner (Lee Ross) buried beneath it. The next day, Fatboy comforts Mercy when she says it is all she can see when she closes her eyes. She attends Lucas's Bible class and questions him about false prophets and a passage that states that anyone who questions a priest should be put to death, causing Lucas to make an excuse to leave because he cannot answer her. Grace asks Mercy to write a letter of apology to Lucas, but Mercy throws it away. Mercy and Fatboy play rounders but smash Dot Branning's (June Brown) window, which Fatboy repairs. Mercy asks Dot if she can attend her church. When Zsa Zsa is left homeless, she asks to move in with Mercy and her grandmother.
Leon breaks one of Grace's commemorative plates, but Mercy gets the blame. However, Fatboy later admits it was his fault. When Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) sets up a drinking den in the cellar of The Queen Victoria public house, which is closed due to being burnt down, Mercy and her friends attend, and Alfie gets Mercy to serve drinks while he is not there. Later, Grace tells Mercy she cannot work in an illegal drinking establishment and says Fatboy corrupted her. Mercy then tells Zsa Zsa that she cannot go to France with Leon, as he slept with Glenda Mitchell (Glynis Barber). Zsa Zsa and Leon both leave, but separately, leaving Mercy and Fatboy upset at the loss of their friends.