EastEnders Wiki

NOTE: Please do not add content from the BBC iPlayer's early episodes until it has been aired on television, as it is intrusive to our readers who may not have seen the episode on iPlayer. Repeated intentional offences of this rule could lead to a ban, Many thanks the EastEnders Wiki admin team.

READ MORE

EastEnders Wiki
Register
Advertisement
EastEnders Wiki

Pauline Fowler (née Beale) was the mother of Mark, Michelle and Martin Fowler, the wife of Arthur Fowler and Joe Macer, as well as the daughter of Albert and Lou Beale and the twin sister of Pete Beale. She was the grandmother to Vicki, Mark, Bex, Arthur and Hope. She was portrayed by Wendy Richard. She made her first appearance on 19 February 1985 and her last on 25 December 2006 - Part 2.

Backstory[]

Pauline and her twin brother Pete were born to Albert and Lou Beale on 11 March 1945. They were born and raised in number 45 Albert Square. She went to Walford High School.

When Pauline was a child, she went into hospital to get her tonsils out, Pete did not know what to do with himself as he had not been separated from his twin for that long before. He felt like something important was missing and he wandered around waiting for Pauline to come home.

In 1956, she met local boy Arthur Fowler. She started dating Arthur in 1964 and he proposed to her later on - when she was upset that she could not be a bridesmaid to her older sister Dora because she was ill. They married in 1965, the same year of the death of her father. They had three children, Mark (born 1968), Michelle (born 1969) and Martin (born 1985).

Storylines[]

1985-1988: Birth of Martin, Arthur's breakdown and death of Lou[]

Pauline discovers that she is pregnant with her third child at forty. While Doctor Harold Legg is checking her he has to leave to check on Reg Cox, after he is found unconscious by Den Watts, Ali Osman and Arthur. Reg later dies and Pauline tells her family that she is pregnant, Lou berates for being pregnant at such an old age and the fact that Arthur is unemployed. Pauline keeps the baby and she gives birth on 30 July 1985. She and Arthur name the baby Martin.

Pauline has several family and money troubles - such as coping with her husband Arthur's redundancy, mental breakdown and imprisonment; eldest son Mark's delinquency; and daughter Michelle's teenage pregnancy.

In July 1988, Lou dies in her sleep, leaving Pauline the head of the family.

1989-1994: Health problems, Arthur's affair and death of Pete[]

In 1989, Pauline starts to suffer from chronic fatigue and rather than seeking medical assistance, she continues to ignore it. Whilst walking home from shopping, Ricky Butcher runs her over in his Austin Mini. Pauline discovers that she has Fibroids and that it has a high possibility of being terminal. However in December 1989, Pauline spends time in hospital recovering from a hysterectomy and survives.

In 1991, Mark returns. Pauline is delighted with Mark's reappearance but is upset to discover that he has contracted HIV from who he believes is from his girlfriend Gill Robinson.

Despite having a stable and happy marriage with Arthur, Pauline discovers in September 1993 that he is having an affair with Christine Hewitt. Hurt, embarrassed, and angry, Pauline responds by hitting Arthur in the face with a frying pan and then throwing him out of their home.

In December 1993, Pauline invites Pete back to Walford on the day of the birth of his son Ian Beale's new twin children, Peter and Lucy Beale, but is upset to discover that Pete has been killed in a car crash. Arthur comforts Pauline and eventually they reconcile. The affair is never allowed to be forgotten, however, particularly when Pauline's relative Nellie Ellis comes to lodge and discovers his escapades.

1995-1996: Conman Willy, Arthur's imprisonment and death and feud with Peggy[]

Willy Roper cons Arthur into signing fund money into various accounts and leaves him to face the consequences when the money is declared missing. Arthur is wrongfully imprisoned for embezzlement in 1995. Willy attempts to woo Pauline in his absence. Willy and Pauline spend time together - she finds him to be a great comfort and refuses to stop seeing him socially. Following his mother's death, Willy asks Pauline to go on holiday to Jersey. Mark figures out that his real motive is to put stolen money in an off-shore account under a false name but Pauline refuses to believe Mark's accusations. While away, Pauline and Willy become very close, but this all changes when she discovers his counterfeit credit cards and her suspicions begin to raise. She does not inform Willy of her discovery but immediately returns to Walford the following day after he confesses his love for her. Pauline tries to extract a confession from Willy and lures him under the semblance that she wants to rekindle their friendship. Whilst alone with Willy, Pauline uses alcohol to seduce the truth from Willy and he confesses to embezzlement and tells her how he had managed to frame Arthur. The police are informed and Willy is arrested and charged, though he is released on bail.

Arthur is released in 1996 but before Pauline can pass on the good news, she is told that he had been involved in a prison riot. Arthur is exonerated the next day, but his joyful reunion with Pauline is brief, as an injury he sustained in prison leads to a brain haemorrhage and he dies shortly after his release. Arthur's death deeply affects Pauline and causes her to become even more like her mother, growing increasingly cynical and bitter, but still providing motherly advice to her family.

As Mark continues to battle with his HIV, he is subjected to hate. When Peggy Mitchell finds out she instigates a hate campaign against Mark. Pauline and Peggy begin a feud.

1997-2003: Life in the Square, trouble with Martin and becoming a grandmother[]

A few years after the death of Arthur, Pauline becomes close to handyman Jeff Healy. They begin a brief relationship but Pauline turns down his offer of marriage when he proposes and he eventually leaves Walford.

In 2000, Martin is revealed to be the father of Sonia Jackson's daughter Chloe Jackson. Sonia decides to give Chloe up for adoption and a feud erupts between the Jacksons and the Fowlers. Pauline demands custody of the baby instead of her being adopted and this leads to a court hearing where Sonia asks that Chloe be returned to her and be raised with her boyfriend, Jamie Mitchell, if Martin asks for custody with Pauline to support him. However, the judge rules that the adoption should go ahead when Martin admits that he does not want to be a father.

In 2001, Pauline's old school friend Derek Harkinson arrives in Walford. She hopes their relationship will progress to a romance but it fails when Derek reveals that he is homosexual. He eventually moves in with Pauline, becoming a replacement father figure to Mark and Martin and as Pauline's best friend.

Problems continue for Pauline when Martin receives a six-month prison sentence after driving a car that fatally hits Jamie. However, he only serves two months, being let out early for good behaviour. Once released, Martin resumes his criminal lifestyle.

2003-2006: Return of Den, interfering and marrying Joe[]

In 2003, Pauline is incensed when she finds out that Den had faked his death and returned to the Square. However, she does take immense delight in the dysfunction his family is going through as a result of his adoptive daughter Sharon Watts and biological son Dennis Rickman’s relationship, especially considering he caused a lot of angst for the Fowlers by impregnating Michelle.

In April 2004, a devastated Pauline and Martin are informed of Mark's death.

A stray Cairn Terrier dog is found when Gus Smith is sweeping the streets. Pauline takes the dog in and names her Betty.

In March 2005, Chloe (now Rebecca)'s adoptive parents are killed in a car accident, causing Martin and Sonia to track her down. Pauline demands to be part of Rebecca's life. She goes to see Rebecca in secret and takes part in misleading Rebecca's adoptive grandmother Margaret Wilson in an effort to have Martin and Sonia named as Rebecca's guardians in Margaret's will. Although the plot backfires, later, upon Margaret's death, Martin and Sonia are given custody of Rebecca and this initiates Pauline's feud with Sonia.

After Dennis’ death, Pauline remarks to Sharon that although she didn’t always approve of him, she approved his love for Sharon.

Pauline embarks on a relationship with Joe Macer whom she meets at salsa classes. Subsequently, Pauline and Joe tie the knot in February 2006. Just two months after the wedding, Pauline and Joe's marriage is shown to sour after she discovers Joe's criminal past, but they reconcile soon afterwards.

Pauline becomes depressed and lonely and seizes the opportunity, whilst in hospital, to mislead her family into believing that she has a brain tumour in order to ruin the restored relationship between Martin and Sonia. When the truth is uncovered, Pauline is left alone. She separates from Joe, sells the family veg stall, and decides to join Michelle in Florida. However, she changes her mind and decides to remain in the Square to be with her family.

After an argument with Joe in which he hits her with a frying pan, Pauline collapses and dies of a brain haemorrhage in the snow and next to Arthur's bench. Rebecca suspects that Sonia has caused Pauline's death, following a confrontation between her and Pauline leading Sonia to slap her. As a result, Sonia is arrested in the middle of her funeral.

Joe confesses to Dot that he caused Pauline death, after hitting her on the head with a frying pan. He eventually falls to his death during a confrontation with Dot and her husband Jim Branning. In 2007, after Pauline's death, Dot buries her ashes at Arthur's grave.

Background information[]

  • Pauline Fowler is one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEndersTony Holland (1940–2007) and Julia Smith (1927–1997). Holland had drawn on his own London background for inspiration, naming three of the original characters after his own relatives, specifically his aunt Lou and her children, Holland's cousins, the fraternal twins Pete and Pauline. This family setup of a woman named Lou Beale, with twin children Pete and Pauline, was recreated on-screen as the first family of EastEnders, the Beales and Fowlers.
  • Pauline was scheduled to die of cancer in 1989 but the storyline was scrapped.
  • Pauline was supposed to go on a tirade against then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but Wendy Richard refused to perform because she was a Tory.

Quotes[]

First line to Doctor Harold Legg: "Right. When did you say officially Doctor?" (19 February 1985)


To Arthur when he apologises for his affair with Christine Hewitt: “Don’t keep saying you’re sorry!”


To Peggy, while arguing about each other’s families: “Oh yeah? And what’s this? Strawberry Blonde at 70? That’s real, isn’t it?”


To Den Watts when he returns and she tells him about Sharon Watts and Dennis Rickman: “I’m talking about them being shacked up together. Same house. Same room. Same bed. So, welcome home, Dennis Watts.”


To Dennis Rickman when he barged into her house with Vicki Fowler’s belongings: “You know what? You are a disgrace. you are. Your mother should’ve slapped your legs more often when you were little.”


Last line before her death: "Come on Betty."

See also[]

Advertisement