Peter Beale

Peter Beale is the twin brother of Lucy Beale. He gets on well with his dad, Ian Beale and most of his other family. He was in a relationship with Lauren Branning at the moment and went to court to try to plean her innocence. He began dating her in December 2007.

Peter Beale returned to EastEnders in Summer 2013, portrayed by new actor Ben Hardy.

1998-2010
Who is tidy Peter and his twin sister Lucy were born to Ian and Cindy Beale on 9 December 1993. He is named after his paternal grandfather, Pete Beale, who died on the day of his birth. Peter was brought up by both his parents until 1996, when Cindy leaves with Peter and his half brother, Steven following her failed attempt to have Ian killed by a hitman. Peter is taken to Italy, where Ian finds him in 1997 and takes him home without Cindy's consent. Cindy is given custody of all three children in 1998, but she is arrested directly after the court case for the attempted murder of Ian. She dies during childbirth in prison, but her baby, Cindy Williams, survives and is given to Cindy's sister Gina Williams. Peter then grows up with various women acting as his stepmother, one of whom, Laura Beale, provides Peter with another half brother, Bobby Beale (Alex Francis), in 2003. Peter is injured when a fairground ride collapsed in 2004 but is saved from the wreckage by Den Watts and Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman). Ian meets his fourth wife, Jane Beale, at this fair.

In May 2007, Ian and Peter go camping with Phil Mitchell and his son Ben. On the drive home, Phil swerves the car to avoid a fallen tree; the car flips, crashes and rolls into a lake with Ben and Peter still inside. Ben is conscious however Peter is knocked out in the crash. As the car sinks and fills with water, Phil goes to rescue the boys; however, Peter's foot gets caught on a seatbelt, he passes out and nearly drowns, but is saved by CPR from Phil. A budding athlete, Peter's PE teacher tells Ian that Peter could compete in the 2012 Olympics. Keen for Peter to succeed in this, Ian begins to pressurise Peter to train hard, and is unhappy when Peter becomes distracted by his girlfriend Lauren Branning, who Peter begins dating in December 2007. Lauren's father Max is equally displeased, especially when he catches Peter and Lauren playing truant and drinking alcohol.

Peter ends his relationship with Lauren in October 2008 after Max orders him to. When Max sees Lauren and Peter together in the cafe, Peter tries to stand up to him, but in his anger Max grabs Peter and throttles him. Peter subsequently reveals to Lauren that her dad was behind their breakup, leading Lauren to attempt to kill Max. Peter later gives his evidence in court. He states that when Lauren left his house, she was upset and angry. When Lauren returns home (after the jury decide that she is not guilty for attempting to murder her father), Peter settles his differences with Max and declares his love for Lauren. Peter tries to look impressive by lying that he and Lauren had sex in the allotments. Jay Brown and Lucy quickly spread this rumor around school and Lauren breaks up with Peter. Max is furious the find out that Peter has said these things about Lauren and attempts to punch Peter. Peter and Lauren reconcile and Lauren tells Peter she is ready to have sex. However, Lauren's mother, Tanya, finds the condoms Peter and Lauren are using for sex and Lauren's older brother Bradley overhears Peter talking about it. The next day, Lauren and Peter try to see each other without Max finding out, but fail to hide it. Peter tells Max that he loves Lauren and Max finally accepts it.

At a party, Peter meets Zsa Zsa Carter and they end up kissing, which Lauren sees. Lauren slaps Peter and Zsa Zsa, and they subsequently fight. After the party, Peter walks Zsa Zsa to her bus stop and wonders if he will see her again. She kisses him passionately, and says "maybe". Peter discovers Leon Small slept with Lucy at the same time he was seeing Zsa Zsa, which leads to a violent confrontation where Peter's nose is bloodied. Leon tells Lucy off for Peter's intervention, and at Ian's birthday dinner Lucy flies into a rage and attacks Peter. Later, Peter discovers Lucy's abortion clinic letter and they have a heartfelt talk where Peter assures Lucy he is behind her, to which she responds positively. However, he does not support Lucy's decision to let Jane and Ian raise the baby, and later discovers that Lucy has lost the baby. He begins sending anonymous gifts to Zsa Zsa, but is discovered when Leon and his friend Fatboy try to find out who is sending them. Lucy plans to break up Leon and Zsa Zsa by exposing his affair, so tells Zsa Zsa about the baby. Zsa Zsa is disgusted and during a confrontation Leon announces that Lucy had an abortion, not a miscarriage. Peter is disgusted as he knows how much Jane wants a baby, he is shocked further when he discovers Ian knew.

Peter is annoyed when his father assumes Lucy will get better GCSE grades than him, and that Lucy did not put in any effort. Peter and Lucy both receive good grades, though Lucy's are exceptionally better. As the family celebrate, they are interrupted by the headteacher Mr Allcock who says Lucy's results are inconsistent and there has been an allegation of cheating, and that the exam board will have to look at both Lucy and Peter's exam papers. However, Lucy admits to cheating and gets Peter out of trouble. When Jane realises that Lucy may have had an abortion, Peter confirms this. Lucy decides to move to Devon to avoid spending another year studying, while Jane secretly plans to leave Ian. At Billie Jackson's birthday party, Peter offers to get Lauren a drink but she is not interested. Peter ends up kissing Whitney Dean. Whitney stays the night but later regrets it after Billie is found dead, as she believes she could have saved him if she had stayed at home. However, the fact that he slept with Whitney puts Peter in a very upbeat mood. Whitney later goes to Peter for comfort, and the couple begin a relationship. Peter quickly develops strong feelings for Whitney, and plans to ask her to marry him. However Jane persuades him to wait until Valentine's Day, explaining that Whitney might feel it's too soon.

At Peter's birthday party, Ian insults Whitney, calling her "a walking STD." This causes Peter to storm out. Peter is then left devastated when Whitney breaks up with him. He gets drunk without anyone knowing until he vomits on Glenda Mitchell. Jane is supportive and understanding towards Peter, but Ian is resentful which Peter says makes him sick. Peter then discovers Ian and Glenda's affair and he warns Glenda to keep her distance, which makes her believe that he was the person who pushed her down the stairs in her flat. Upset with Ian, Peter throws a brick through his chip shop window. Glenda tells Ian that Peter practically confessed to pushing her, and when Phil confronts Ben at a family gathering, Ian does not defend Peter. Later, Ian begs for forgiveness, saying he will tell Jane about the affair, but Peter just walks off. He packs a bag and leaves a card for Jane saying "I'm sorry". He then goes to stay with Lucy in Devon. Ian later receives news that Peter and Lucy have been involved in a car crash and takes Bobby to visit them. Peter returns to Walford and begins dating Lola. He also has a new fashion of sagging his pants.

In April 2014, Ian and Peter discover that Lucy has been sleeping with Lee Carter (Danny-Boy Hatchard) and has been taking cocaine. On his return home that evening, Peter overhears Ian telling Lucy that she is the child he is the most proud of, leading to him running off. The next day Ian attempts to reconcile with his son, who eventually agrees to go to a family lunch at the Beale's Restaurant. Peter attempts to call Lucy, but after receiving no response, leaves a message asking if they can talk. When she does not show up, Peter decides not to go to the meal and instead meets up Lauren and Lee in the Vic for a drink. An irritated Ian soon finds him and yells at him. After a brief argument ensues, Ian is thrown out by Mick (Danny Dyer) after insulting Lee. A grief-stricken Ian later attempts to see Peter, and when they are outside tells him that Lucy has been found dead, leaving Peter devastated.

Peter attempts to support his family after Lucy's death, but finds it hard to cope when the police interview him on his own, and Ian and Cindy are interviewed together. After Cindy reveals Lucy's cocaine addiction to the police, Ian is furious with her, feeling she is soiling Lucy's memory, and later snaps when she picks up one of Lucy's jumpers, and throws her out, making arrangements for her aunt to pick her up from Walford. However, he instantly regrets his decision and tries to get her to stay, but she refuses. Jane leaves the following morning with Bobby, leaving only Peter left. He begins to seek comfort in ex Lauren, paying little attention to Lola. A rift begins to form between the couple when Lola sells an interview about Lucy to the Walford Gazette for £300 in a misguided attempt to give her a good memory, but upsets Ian. A furious Peter berates her and tells her they need a break. He then moves out of Billy Mitchell's flat to support Ian, hurting Lola's feelings. When Jake Stone (Jamie Lomas) is arrested on suspicion of Lucy's murder, Peter finds himself growing closer to Lauren when she turns to him for comfort regarding LB Lettings, saying that she cannot continue under the pressure but feels like she is letting Lucy down. Peter assures her she isn't and expresses his worries about not being able to get Ian through Lucy's death. Lauren tells him that Ian loves him and Peter kisses her but later apologises.

Peter and Lola's relationship continues to deteriorate as he is uninterested in her issues, and they clash when Billy becomes a suspect in Lucy's death. Peter becomes jealous when Lauren starts a casual relationship with Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo), and believes he is trouble. Peter kisses Lauren again and declares that he is in love with her, but she says that she still wants to be with Dean. He tells Lola what he did, breaking up with her in the process. He then tells Lauren that he is still in love with her and is happy to wait until things with Dean fail. He moves back in with Ian and Cindy.