 Leonard Kempinski was introduced in December 1992 as a new love interest for the show's matriarch Annie Sugden, played by Sheila Mercier.Although Annie had been central to the development of the programme since it first aired back in 1972, she did not feature in many prominent storylines in the 1990s (due to Mercier's age), let alone romantic stories.Annie had been depicted as being close to long time friend Amos Brearly, who although he had proposed to her in January 1973, she had turned him down and producers felt that Amos and Annie were better as friends, as well as the fact that Magill had quit the programme the year previous.