Donna Ludlow was the daughter of Marcus Duffy and Kathy Hills and sister of Ian Beale and Ben Mitchell. She made her first appearance on 27 August 1987 and died on 13 April 1989.
Storylines[]
1965-1987: Backstory[]
At the age of 14, Kathy was bundled into a car and raped, resulting in her falling pregnant. Unable to cope with a child conceived in horrific circumstances, she gave the baby up for adoption. Mr and Mrs Ludlow adopted Donna.
1987-1989: Life in Walford[]
Donna's godmother, June Watkins, visits Donna's mother, Kathy Beale, who gave Donna up for adoption because she was raped at the age of 14 by a man called Marcus Duffy. Donna hopes to meet Kathy and June tells Kathy this and about her life. Kathy refuses to meet Donna but will not say why so June leaves her Donna's rag doll. Undeterred, Donna moves to Walford to be near her mother. For the first year she keeps her identity a secret and works as a barmaid at The Queen Victoria Pub and takes to anonymously calling the Samaritans, where Kathy volunteers, but Kathy starts to suspect the caller's identity. Kathy becomes more concerned when Donna shows interest in her son Ian Beale, and Ian seems to be attracted to her, unaware that she is his half-sister. When Kathy tells Donna to stay away from Ian, Donna finally tells her who she is. Mortified, Kathy orders Donna to leave, telling her she gave her away and wants nothing to do with her.
Hurt by such rejection, Donna retaliates by causing as much trouble for Kathy as she can. She continues to flirt with Ian, forcing Kathy to tell him who she is, and hints to Kathy's husband, Pete Beale, that Kathy might be having an affair with James Wilmott-Brown. Finally Kathy tells Donna that the reason she gave her up was because she was the product of rape. Unhinged by this bombshell, Donna goes into a downward spiral. She stalks Simon Wicks, who only uses her for sex, and when he puts her against his new fling, Cindy Williams, the subsequent fights mean she loses her job at the pub; by August 1988, she is homeless. Michelle Fowler and Sharon Watts take pity and allow her to stay with them but after Donna tries to come between them, they throw her out. By September, she is living in an abandoned squat on the Square. After Donna's manipulations are discovered, the community shuns her. Depressed, she starts using heroin and is soon addicted and stealing to fund her habit; by December 1988, she turns to extortion. One day, Ali Osman comes into the Vic to celebrate his win at the horses. His boasting attracts Donna's attention and she takes advantage of his inebriation to seduce him and threatens to tell his wife Sue about the one-night stand unless he pays her regularly. But by February 1989, that well runs so dry that Donna resorts to prostitution, agreeing to sleep with her drug-dealer, Spike Murphy, in exchange for smack. Spike brings his sleazy friends along and a vicious gang rape is only stopped by Rod Norman's chance appearance. Following this, Rod tries unsuccessfully to get Donna off heroin.
When Donna tells the community that her adoptive parents have been killed in a car crash, the residents of Walford take pity, donating money to help her but are incensed when her mother arrives shortly after. Dot Cotton takes her in but everyone else shuns Donna; she promptly spreads rumours that Colin Russell has AIDS and tells Sue Osman about her affair with Ali, destroying their marriage. These are hollow victories, and after Rod abandons her to go on tour, Ali attacks her, and Kathy rejects her yet again, Donna overdoses on heroin and chokes to death on her own vomit. Dot finds her body on the living room floor a couple of hours later.
In December 1992, Mandy Salter began spreading rumours that Kathy, who she had been living with, had been treating her badly, her reasoning being that she reminded Kathy of Donna, whom she felt guilty about. When Kathy discovers this she confronts Mandy in the Vic and during the argument Mandy reveals that Kathy still has photos of Donna in her flat, but won't talk about her.
In July 2019, 30 years after her death, Kathy mentions to Rainie Branning that she had a daughter who was an addict. She tells Rainie that she died and that she was not there for her when she should have been and that perhaps things would have been different if she was.
Donna was also mentioned in June 2022 in a conversation between Kathy and Ben.
On the 12 December 2022, the day of Dot Branning's funeral, Kathy breaks down thinking of Dot's generosity towards Donna when everyone else refused to help. She reveals she still feels guilty, since she was Donna's mother and should've been the one to give her a home.
During a conversation with Lola Pearce-Brown on 26 January 2023, Lola's wedding day, Kathy tells her about Donna's adoption and death but also claims that the decisions that she made were always in an attempt to protect her children, even if she would later live to regret them.