The Beale family: Inside EastEnders’ most iconic characters from Ian and Lucy
THE BEALE family has been at the centre of EastEnders since the show first began back in 1985 and have since become the show’s longest-running family.
There’s been a Beale in every single episode of EastEnders, and they were even the subject of special spin-off episode CivvyStreet, which explored the family back in 1942. So who exactly is in this iconic family? Here’s a full list…
Lou Beale
Lou Beale was the matriarch of the Beale family – and, appropriately, she was the first character created for the soap.
Lou is a longtime resident of Albert Square and moved there in 1935 with her husband Albert (who only appears in the CivvyStreet spin-off) – fifty years before the show begins.
Portrayed by Anna Wing in the original series Lou was killed off after just three years in 1988, when Anna quit the show after reportedly being unhappy at the direction the show and her character was taking.
Pete Beale
Pete, the son of Lou and Albert, inherited his father’s food and veg stand.
Against his mothers’ wishes, Pete married a prostitute, Pat, at the age of just sixteen after believing she had fallen pregnant.
Pat eventually told Pete she had lost the baby, but the pair remained married and went on to have two children together (Simon and David) – however, Pete believed his youngest was not really his and the marriage eventually fell apart.
Not long after, in 1993, Pete was killed in a car accident.
Kenny Beale
Kenny Beale is another child of Lou and Albert, who was banished from Albert Square in 1965 after having an affair with his brother Pete’s first wife, Pat.
However, he returns in 1988 from his new home in New Zealand with his teenage daughter, Elizabeth, in tow.
Not long after his return, Kenny decides to leave again, despite believing that he could be the father of Simon Wicks, Pat’s son.
Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler is the daughter of Lou and Albert Beale and the twin sister of Pete Beale.
Portrayed by Wendy Richard on the show, Pauline is the mother of Mark, Michelle and Martin Fowler.
She becomes depressed after the death of her husband Arthur Fowler but thinks she’s found new love with Joe Macer, her second husband, who ends up murdering her on Christmas Day 2005.
Elizabeth Beale
Elizabeth is Kenny Beale’s teenage daughter, who he brings with him from New Zealand.
She is training to be an engineer at the time and eventually returns home when her Dad Kenny leaves Walford.
Kathy Beale
Kathy Beale marries into the Beale family after getting together with Pete following his split from first wife Pat.
The pair married in 1968 and had a son, Ian, but would split after 21 years when Kathy was raped by another man.
Kathy decided to remain in Walford and her character regularly appeared on the show until the year 2000 .
In 2015 she would return to the show after a fifteen year hiatus.
Ian Beale
Ian Beale is the son of Kathy and Pete Beale, who made his first appearance on the show in February 1985 and has been a regular on the programme ever since.
Despite starting out as a simple food stall worker, Ian becomes arrogant and smug after finding success as a businessman – leading to a feud with Phil Mitchell.
Ian has also been married five times on the show and has five kids – three biological, and two which he adopted.
Cindy Beale
Cindy was a newcomer to Albert Square in 1988.
She marries Ian in 1989 and lets him believe that he is the biological father of Steven Beale, who she gives birth to in the same year and who Ian goes on to adopt.
Despite a brief split due to Steven’s paternity being revealed, the pair reconcile and Cindy gives birth to twins Peter and Lucy in 1993.
However, the union collapses again and Cindy tries to have a hit taken out on her ex-husband.
Eventually, she dies giving birth in prison in 1998.
David Wicks
Another of Pete Beale’s sons, David Wicks was adopted by his mother Pat’s second husband Brian Wicks and lost contact with Pete.
However, David returned to Albert Square in 1993 for the funeral of his estranged father and – unannounced – turns up on his mother Pat’s doorstep, who it’s revealed he also lost contact with at 17.
When an old fling, Carol Jackson, moves to the square, David grows increasingly close to her daughter Bianca until Carol admits that David is actually Bianca’s father – a fact he is forced to confess when she drunkenly tries to kiss him.
Steven Beale
Steven Beale is the biological son of Simon Wicks, Pat Beale’s second child, and the adopted son of Ian Beale.
Steven initially leaves the show to find his real father in New Zealand after Ian confesses to him that he’s not his biological dad.
However, Steven returns in 2007 and begins stalking Ian by pretending to be Ian’s late wife, Cindy, before eventually taking Ian hostage due to his bitterness over his paternity.
Despite being forced to leave again in 2008, Steven returns in 2015 and is able to somewhat reconcile his relationship with Ian.
He then dies from a Cardiac arrest a year later.
Peter Beale
Peter is the son of Ian Beale and his late wife Cindy and is born on the very same day his namesake grandfather Pete dies in 1993.
In 1996, his mom Cindy flees with him and half-brother Steven Beale after failing to have Ian killed by a hitman – however, Ian eventually finds bot boys in Italy and returns them to Albert Square.
After Cindy dies in prison in 1998, Peter and his twin sister Lucy are raised by a series of step-mothers and their father Ian, but Peter suffers a great deal with jealousy towards his sister.
Peter eventually moves to New Zealand but returns in 2020 after he learns Bobby, who murdered his sister Lucy, has been injured in a racially motivated attack.
Lucy Beale
Lucy is Peter’s twin sister and – despite initially being a good student – gradually becomes more and more rebellious as she gets older.
She eventually starts using drugs and becomes involved in a series of flings before being tragically murdered in 2014.
A year later, it’s revealed that she was bludgeoned to death by Bobby Beale, her half-brother, who was a minor at the time.
Bobby Beale
Bobby Beale is the younger half brother of Peter and Lucy, and the son of Ian Beale and Laura Dunn.
In 2020, Bobby converted to Islam and fell victim to a hate crime.
Who else is in the Beale family?
There are plenty of family members who only appear in spin-offs or are mentioned off-screen, due to the Beale’s being such a large family with many branches.
Here’s a list…
- Albert Beale, Lou’s late husband
- Dora Beale, daughter of Lou and Albert
- Harry Beale, son of Lou and Albert
- Ronnie Beale, son of Lou and Albert
- Maggie Flaherty, Lou’s secret lovechild