Joe Macer

Joseph "Joe" Macer is a fictional character from the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Ray Brooks. He made his first appearance on 19 August 2005 and left the show on 26 January 2007.

Character creation and development
The character Joe Macer, played by Ray Brooks, was introduced in August 2005 as a love interest for the long running character, Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard). The characters were shown to meet at salsa classes, a relationship was quickly developed and despite Pauline's initial trepidation the year 2006 saw her marrying Joe after almost a decade since the death of her first husband, Arthur Fowler. Their marriage was an attempt to give the character Pauline a "new lease of life"&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; and her wedding day was screened to coincide with EastEnders' 21st anniversary.&lt;ref name="anniversary"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Richard was openly opposed to her character remarrying, but she was eventually convinced by the executive producer and battled—successfully—for Pauline to keep her surname, Fowler.&lt;ref name="anniversary"/&gt;

In July 2006 however, Wendy Richard announced that she would be leaving the show. She said she made the decision to leave when the producers of EastEnders revealed that Pauline was to remarry. Richard thought it was "disloyal" of Pauline to her beloved first husband Arthur, commenting: "I think it's the most terrible shame, I really do. I thought in my heart of hearts it was wrong."&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Richard felt that she did not have the same chemistry with Ray Brooks, who played Joe, as she did with Bill Treacher, who played Arthur. She rejected producers' opinions that Pauline and Joe "looked good together" and felt that she and Brooks had to work very hard to turn them into a "realistic-looking couple."&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;

Following Richard's announcement that she was quitting, the BBC announced that actor Ray Brooks was being axed from the soap in September 2006, with one insider commenting "With Pauline going, there’s not much more we could do with Ray’s character...it’s going to be a dramatic exit." Brooks was said to be "fine with the decision" having endured a "challenging working relationship with unhappy EastEnders legend Wendy Richard."&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Just two months after the wedding was screened, Pauline and Joe's marriage was shown to sour after Joe's criminal past was uncovered.&lt;ref name="cludo"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Their relationship steadily deteriorated throughout the year, and in episodes that aired in December 2006 Pauline ended the marriage—removing her wedding ring and informing Joe that he "was half the man that Arthur had been, that she had never really loved him and that their sex life was a sham." The resulting row saw Joe insult Pauline's family—suggesting that her "perfect marriage" with Arthur was "nothing but a fantasy" and brandishing Mark "diseased", Michelle a "slapper" and Arthur a "con"—to which Pauline responded by smashing a plate over his head.&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Wendy Richard has commented "It was not just the memory of Arthur that stopped the marriage to Joe being a success. He was proven to be a weak and untruthful man. That is what caused the marriage to be a non starter. Pauline was not mean to Joe, he used her…and lied to her."&lt;ref name="dsinterview"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;

The destruction of Pauline and Joe's marriage was part of the build-up to the exits of both characters. Pauline was killed off in a "shocking" and dramatic storyline, which saw her collapsing and dying in the middle of Albert Square, leaving both characters and viewers in uncertainty about the cause of her demise.&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; The storyline—dubbed "who killed Pauline?" by the British press&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;—continued through 2007, as first Pauline's funeral was interrupted by the police in order to perform an autopsy on her body, and then Pauline's former daughter-in-law Sonia Fowler was arrested for the murder.&lt;ref name="Tue 02 Jan 2007"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Following the screening of the suspected murder, bookmaker Ladbrokes listed odds on the suspects with Sonia being favourite at 2/1, Joe Macer and Pauline's son Martin both at 3/1 and outsiders Peggy Mitchell at 10/1, and Dot Branning at 20/1.&lt;ref name="cludo"/&gt;

However, Sonia's arrest proved to be a "red herring" and it was later revealed that the killing blow had actually come from Pauline's husband Joe,&lt;ref name="cludo"/&gt; who broke down and confessed to Dot Branning that he had rowed with Pauline on Christmas Day (off-screen) and, in a fury, struck her across the head with a frying pan, causing a brain haemorrhage that claimed her life.&lt;ref name="LIFE STYLE EXTRA"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; The plot's eventual climax in February 2007 led to the exits of several established characters connected with Pauline. This included Martin, Sonia&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; and Joe, who was dramatically killed off after confessing to Pauline's murder—he fell out of the Fowlers' first floor window while trying to apprehend a hysterical Dot.&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;

Marriage to Pauline
Joe was widowed in 1982, and has two daughters, Megan and Shelly, from his first marriage.

Joe met Pauline Fowler, a dancing companion at their salsa dance club, and they became very good friends. Joe fell in love with Pauline and proposed to her once in a crowded The Queen Victoria. She turned Joe down but he did not give up as he knew that Pauline was fond of him and dared not admit so, and asked her again in February 2006 after falsely telling her that he would leave for Dubai; this time she accepted.

On their wedding day on 17 February 2006, Pauline had doubts about remarrying as she felt that she was betraying Arthur. Joe was about to cancel the wedding when Pauline turned up at the registry office ready to get married. Pauline's son Martin was Joe's best man, Lucy Beale and Rebecca Miller were bridesmaids, and Dot Branning was the matron of honour.

The wedding guests were Dot, Lucy, Rebecca, Martin, Sonia, Megan, Jane, Ian, Peter, Jim, Rosie, Keith, Demi and Pauline's dog Betty.

Pauline chose to keep her surname as Fowler since she felt that she had lived most of her life with the name and didn't want 'a new identity'.

Joe admitted his criminal career to Pauline, revealing that his life-long friend Bert did time in prison for Joe's crime, and that Joe still owed Bert. Joe refused to choose between Pauline and Bert, and Pauline threw him out of the house. After he and Bert converted Pauline's loft, Pauline forgave him and let him come home, but their relationship remained uneasy as she became obsessed with her irrational vendetta against her daughter-in-law, Sonia.

Marriage breakdown and Pauline's death
In December 2006, as Pauline's behaviour became increasingly erratic, Joe reluctantly joined with Martin, Sonia, Dot and Jim in keeping secret from Pauline the fact that Martin and Sonia had got back together. When Pauline found out about this — by overhearing the four criticising her for her faults — she falsely claimed that she was dying of a brain tumour. When Joe went to the hospital and discovered this was untrue, it was the last straw for him and he left to stay with the Brannings.

In one final shocking and intensely unpleasant encounter, Pauline told Joe she never loved him, insulted his lovemaking ("with your clammy little hands") and told him she wanted nothing more to do with him. Joe responded in kind by calling her "a block of ice in bed," and then smashing her family photographs, insulting in turn her late husband Arthur, ("a criminal"), her dead son Mark ("diseased") and her daughter Michelle ("little scrubber"). The scene ended with Pauline smashing a plate on Joe's head.

Joe left to spend Christmas with his daughter, and when he returned on Boxing Day he was first shocked to find out about her death, but later got drunk and told everyone he was pleased she was dead. When he saw her flowers in the Square however he realised how much he loved her and apologised to everyone. When the police arrived at Pauline's funeral with news of a murder inquiry, Martin first believed Joe must be the suspect, and tried to strangle him, until Sonia owned up and announced it was her the police were investigating.

Joe later packed his belongings and went to live with Megan. He promised Martin he would return for Pauline's second funeral, but he claimed that his car broke down on the motorway, so was unable to attend.

Demise
On 25 January, Joe unexpectedly returned to the Fowlers' house, much to the horror of Dot, who was inside the house at the time. Dot was originally suspicious of Joe turning up but he was quick to point out that he had lived there and had a key. Joe and Dot then had a deep conversation over his relationship with Pauline, which made Joe more upset by the minute. They both went upstairs and Joe started drinking, making him speak about his deeper feelings. Joe then revealed to Dot that he had gone back to the house on Christmas Day to try and patch things up with Pauline, who had packed her bags ready to leave for the USA, but following her earlier conversation with Sonia, had decided not to move away. Joe explained how she harshly told him that he [Joe] was leaving, not her, and continued to insult him and his ways. He told Pauline he felt like lashing out at times, and she dared him to "be a man" and hit her. In an angered rage, Joe described how he picked up the frying pan and hit Pauline hard on the head with it. He left the house after the incident, at which point Pauline was fine, and that was the last time he saw his wife, who later died due to a brain haemorrhage caused by the blow to the head Joe had given her.

Dot then proceeded to try and convince Joe to tell the truth but he refused, telling her he couldn't go through with it. She then attempted to ring the police but Joe snatched the phone out of her hand and threw it on the bed, pleading with Dot not to reveal his secret.

Dot's husband, Jim, meanwhile, had decided to take Rebecca to the Fowlers' house to see if Dot had found her toy, and he saw Dot at the window trying to open it. Dot wanted to shout the truth to everyone, despite Joe's pleas. When Jim and Rebecca entered the house they heard Dot and Joe shouting so Jim left Rebecca downstairs and went upstairs to investigate. When Jim entered the room, Dot tried to run to Jim to reveal the truth about Pauline's death. Joe immediately tried to stop her by grabbing her and putting his hand over her mouth. Jim rushed over to save Dot and the struggle that followed resulted in Joe falling back and crashing out of the window and falling through the market stall. Jim looked out of the window as Joe lay on the street dead.

In popular culture
A promotional picture of Pauline and Joe was used on the official Torchwood website, in a fictional magazine article about aliens.&lt;ref&gt;"MAGAZINE ARTICLE, 2007", BBC. URL last accessed 2006-11-19&lt;/ref&gt;