I recently went down to Albert Square to get all the goss on EastEnders' newest family.

This week, I was lucky enough to be invited down to Albert Square to meet EastEnders' newest family, the Hawkins, the estranged family of Nicola Mitchell, some of whom, quite literally, crashed their way into Walford this week.

We've already briefly met Nicola's sisters Gemma, played by Patricia Potter, and Jodie, played by Anna Constable, and their mother Rose, but are yet to meet Gemma's husband Ned, played by Jamie Bamber and their son Ryder, played by Felix Uff.

With old wounds and complicated family dynamics in tow, the Hawkins are set to make an explosive impact on the Square.

So here are 10 things I learnt about the Hawkins from the show's Executive Producer, Ben Wadey, and the actors playing Walford's new arrivals...

The Hawkins flee Essex after their house burns down

Teasing the family's proper arrival into Albert Square, Jamie Bamber described the Hawkins as "well-to-do, they've been doing fine. Ned's been very successful. He's run a successful business. They've had the house. They've had the cars. They've done the big, you know, they've probably got aspirations to build a pool. And it all goes, it all goes south."

So when we meet them, they're "refugees from Essex". We're seeing them at "rock bottom".

"We wash up with cardboard boxes, suitcases, with nowhere to go, We knock on the door. and turn up like a tornado, a hot mess, of people whose lives are ruined."

"They have no home, their house is burnt down, and this is their first port of call. Ned knows nobody in this square, but the thing that he's got is his wits, his discipline. He's a former military man. He's from nothing. He's worked his way up through the ranks; he's become a therapist, which is a strange sort of pairing, a military therapist. But he retrained within the army as a PTSD therapist. So he's someone who can talk. He's someone who can listen, and he used to be a sapper, so he used to diffuse bombs. So he stays calm in usually tense situations."

"They should be in bits, but they're not. There's something weird about the fact that they're able to function. You've lost your home, you have no possessions in the world, and you, come 20 or 30, 40 miles from Essex as refugees, and end up in Albert Square."

"Believe me, they've made some crazy decisions to get to this point. But there's nothing but love, actually, with this bunch. Hopefully, there's gonna be a big question mark from the audience. How does that work? What's the bind? What is binding them together?"

"Why is Ned not worried? Why is he so together? Because, you know, he's got all of this and poor Nicola has got thousands of boxes, all over the house, and there's a dog as well. We come with a dog. Quite a big one!"

"It's really about what you do to survive, what you'll sacrifice. I almost said who. What you'll sacrifice? And where the parameters are. Where does your moral boundary lie? Is it just a family? Is it a bit beyond? And hopefully, you know, you'll get to find out."

Jamie Bamber's life mirrors the Hawkins’ story

When describing the circumstances around the Hawkins' arrival into EastEnders, Jamie Bamber opened up about experiences in his own life that closely mirror that of his new on-screen family.

"This happened to me. My family came back. We were in Paris, and my dad lost his job, and we had to come back to London, and we stayed in with my mum's cousin in Harringay, 63 Kimberly Gardens. And I'm one of seven. We all showed up, and she's a single mum with a daughter, and we all stayed in this four-bedroom house in Harringay while we got established again."

"It's exactly what this family's doing. And that can be super stressful. People can go through each other's throats. They can blame each other. There can be repercussions. They can be holding each other accountable for some crazy decisions."

Ned already knows Alfie

Whilst you might think that the only connection the Hawkins have to Albert Square is Nicola, that's not quite right, as Jamie Bamber let slip that "[Ned's] got a bit of history with Alfie in The Queen Vic. You find out very quickly. There's only two people he really knows, and that's his sister-in-law and Alfie. But he doesn't know Alfie's the publican. That's a surprise to him."

But how do they know each other? And will they be pleased to be reunited? Or does Ned's arrival spark further trouble for Alfie? We're going to have to wait to find out.

Gemma looks set to bring the chaos

On playing Gemma, Patricia Potter, described her character as "Optimistic. She's incredibly open-hearted. She can't accept that people don't love each other. That's her role. She wants to bring everybody together. And she makes mistakes. She is a bit scatty. She's a hot mess. She's chaos. She brings chaos. But with a great heart, great warmth, you know, she hasn't got any side, really. She just wants everyone to be happy."

"She's fun. She gets her words muddled up. She talks herself into trouble, and then keeps talking herself out of it!"

"Gemma is desperately trying to make friends with everybody. So she's running around, like a Cocker Spaniel. People pleasing, but because she sometimes oversteps, gets it wrong, she can end up falling out with people, unwittingly, and having to work twice as hard to make friends with them again."

And on her relationship with sister Nicola, Patricia said "They make each other laugh. Gemma drives her (Nicola) crazy. She's so annoyed by her. But underneath that, Gemma really makes her laugh. So, she can't stay cross at her long."

To which Laura Doddington added "And she's my older sister, like, no matter what. Even though we're really different, I think sometimes chalk and cheese works, right? And they really work as a sort of older sister, younger sister. But, like, together. She's the middle child, and there's Jodie as well who we sort of helped bring up, But there's a lot of fun. There's more fun than drama, but there is trouble, yeah."

Rose comes with a sharp tongue

EastEnders is famed for its matriarchs, and Marian McLoughlin, who plays the show's latest, Rose, describes the character as someone who has "had to be very tough because of what's happened to her. She came from poverty, had her house, her husband came back from the war, and things happened, as we know."

"She's got a very sharp tongue, and she uses it as a weapon. Particularly with Nicola. It's a way of diminishing her and retaining power because this is all about a power struggle, mother-daughter. And I have come back really because I want the family back together because that's the most important thing to me. It has to be her family. "

"She's always got an agenda. If she can see an opportunity, she'll take it for her. But I'm there to sort out, actually, the truth of what happened in my mind. And I'm coming with my version of the truth, and it's up to the audience to decide whether, you know, who's telling the truth."

"She'll just, like I've heard other mothers do - I don't do it myself - say "Oh, you look nice. have you put a bit of weight on? No, it suits you." She pops the knife in and turns it and pulls it out and goes "Oh yeah, sorry about that. Just a bit of a mess."

"I think it's going to be interesting how we progress. The great thing about the show is that I don't really know where she's going to go. God knows what's going to happen. I have no idea, which is why it makes it such an appealing job, because normally you do a part and it finishes, and that's your arc of your character."

"This, I have no idea what other layers are going to come, and I hope, and I'm sure they will come, the layering up of the characters, and therefore, complexities. Because the thing is, she loves Nicola. She loves her kids. She loves them. That's a given. She loves all of her kids and she'll defend them to that to death, really. That's what I like about her."

"She really does think she's a bit above. She goes to other places, which will come up in other episodes, and she really does like... "Oh god, really?"

We'll see a different side to Nicola

Speaking about the arrival of her extended family, Laura Doddington explained how it "came out of the blue".

"They haven't been estranged for 20-odd years, they have met up and have done family events. But Nicola made a decision to separate herself from her family, whether that be to protect herself emotionally or whatever she's convinced herself of. And they are in her space. She has made this hers, and they shouldn't be here, is basically it. No, no. Didn't invite you. What are you doing here?"

"When you start a new relationship with someone, it takes a long time for you to introduce them to your family, because you are someone different when you're around your family. There's years of history."

"There's a lot of love within this family, a load of love, but also there's a lot of trauma. So I think that's very interesting."

And on whether or not Nicola reverts to her childhood state with the arrival of her family, Laura Doddington explained how "Even I'm aware, you know, sometimes when I'm with my mum, that I do revert to that, or me and my brother will be giggling away and, like, know that it's not appropriate, but there are definite flashes of that."

"I think, also, she is a coverer. She tries to pretend that everything is OK, but I think it comes out in flashes, as we've seen with Nicola. There are moments where she will let herself be vulnerable for a moment, or she will absolutely lash out and scream, and I think there are definitely flashes. Through frustration, often we are not as capable."

"And she's sleep deprived. She has got a baby, and she's not sleeping well. So there's that as well, and there's a baby in the house, and then this lot arrived. She didn't really want them here. So, yeah, you do see the cracks a little bit."

To which Marian McLoughlin talked about "in some of the scenes we've done, Nicola goes back into being a child with her."

We WILL meet Ned and Gemma's daughter Megan

Whilst the family are yet to arrive in Walford in full, one character we've already heard a bit about is Megan, Ned and Gemma's daughter, whose boyfriend Leo, we met on Monday, was tied up in the boot of Gemma and Jodie's car!

We soon find out that he has been treating Megan badly, and it's not long before Nicola steps in to protect her family and teach Leo a lesson.

But with Megan missing from the official announcement of EastEnders' newest family, will we get to meet Megan? Or will she remain a mystery off-screen?

Luckily, Executive Producer Ben Wadey was on hand to explain all, confirming that "Megan is out there, and we will meet her down the line, not for a little bit. She's got her own storyline happening currently offscreen, but in time it will very much be onscreen."

"As we were constructing this family, there are stories about what gets passed down for generations. And it means that we have established character and done quite a lot of work actually already on what that's going to look like, but I don't think these guys even know all the details of it. It's an exciting, probably post-Christmas arrival for us."

Romance is on the cards for Ryder

As with any new young actor joining EastEnders, we want to know who they'll inevitably end up with romantically, and after describing Ryder as "mischievous, impulsive, quite cheeky" with a "massive heart" and "his dad's charm and chat", Felix Uff teased that "Romance is always on the cards, isn't it? There's definitely some of that going on."

EastEnders continues Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One with first look episodes available from 6am on BBC iPlayer