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Not to be confused with his grandfather Pete Beale, the 1985 character.


Peter Beale is the son of Ian and Cindy Beale. He is twin brother to Lucy and is the half-brother of Steven Beale, Cindy Williams, Bobby Beale, Gina and Anna Knight. He is also the boyfriend of Lauren Branning and the father of Louie Beale.

Storylines[]

1993-2018[]

Peter and his twin sister Lucy were born to Ian and Cindy Beale on 9th 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 supposedly 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, in 2003. Peter is injured when a fairground ride collapsed in 2004 but is saved from the wreckage by Den Watts and Dennis Rickman. 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 café, 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 rumour 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. On 24 December 2010 He packs a bag and leaves a card for Jane saying "I'm sorry". He then goes to stay with Lucy in Devon. On 6 January 2011 Peter calls Jane to tell her he is staying in Devon with Lucy and he wants his stuff packed up and sent over. 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 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 Carter 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 becomes reliant on Lauren for support as she was Lucy's best friend and business partner in a letting agency. His need for support from her increases when Jane and Bobby leave for Birmingham and Cindy is sent back to her aunt in Devon. A rift forms between him and Lola over his reliance on Lauren over her and they break up when Peter realises he is in love with Lauren and Lola is responsible for the publication of a well-meant article about Lucy that paints her as a rebellious teenager. Lauren rejects his advances as she has recently started dating Dean Wicks, but realises she is still in love with him when he heroically rescues Kat Moon from a fire. Peter plans to leave Walford to live with Steven, but Lauren stops him and they declare their love for each other. They are unnerved to realise they are being followed, but are told by Max's new girlfriend DC Emma Summerhayes that it is just a reporter. Peter then leaves for a holiday with Steven in New Zealand.

When he returns, he proposes to Lauren with Cindy's help (who has returned from Devon) and she accepts, but calls off the engagement almost immediately when Ian reveals that Peter was Lucy's cocaine dealer. Peter explains that he simply handled the drugs so Lucy would not come into contact with any dangerous drug dealers and she became addicted since they were staying in Devon several years ago with the addiction becoming stronger when Ian had his breakdown. Despite knowing this, Ian disowns Peter although Jane convinces him to let Peter move back in.

In February 2015, Peter finds out that Lauren is pregnant with his child. When he offers to support her, she tells him that Lucy was murdered at home, leaving Peter thinking that either Ian or Jane killed Lucy. When the whole family learns that Bobby is the real killer, despite Jane trying to cover for him as she convinced him that he didn't, they try to tell him what he did. When Peter sees that the rest of the family now do not want Bobby to know, he gets angry and leaves the house in a rage, sleeping on a park bench all night. After realising that he cannot live with this secret, Peter announces he is moving to New Zealand to live with Steven and invites Lauren to join him. At first she rejects him as she is going to live with her mum in Devon, but comes around soon after. Whilst stood in the middle of the market, Peter buys a baby-grow, revealing Lauren kept the baby, and they both leave the Square together.

Seven months later, a heavily pregnant Lauren returns to Walford, and whilst there, gives birth to her and Peter's son, Louie, named in honour of Peter's deceased great-grandmother, Lou Beale. She and Louie later go back to New Zealand to be with Peter. In May 2016, Ian's mother Kathy Beale contacts Lauren and informs her that Bobby has brutally attacked Jane, leaving her in a coma.

Ian is shocked when Lauren and Louie then return to Walford, with Steven instead of Peter. Lauren reveals that her relationship with Peter ended due to Bobby's secret and she is now with Steven. Later that year, Steven steals equipment, supplies and money from Ian's restaurant. Jane and later Lauren find out about it and Steven admits that he did it to help Peter, who has been getting into debt, drinking heavily and getting into fights since his breakup with Lauren.

When Lauren subsequently decides to go visit Peter, Steven talks her out of it, reasoning that going there out of guilt will only be a mistake. In September 2017, Steven dies after being injured in a fire. Ian reveals that Peter will not be attending his funeral as he doesn't want to put himself through the ordeal after losing Lucy. In February 2018, after the trauma of enduring Abi’s death after she gave birth to her child from an affair with Steven, Lauren leaves Walford with Louie. Her grandmother, Cora Cross, later reveals that they have moved back to New Zealand, hinting that Lauren and Peter have reunited.

A year later, Kathy tells Ian to tell Peter that Bobby has been released.

2020-2022[]

In February 2020, Lauren's uncle, Jack Branning, reveals to Max that Lauren and Peter have split up and he has been aiding Lauren with money. That same month, Peter returns to Walford after being contacted by his grandmother, Kathy Beale, that his half-brother Bobby has been left comatose after being attacked, as a result of islamophobia. Peter has undergone a personality change and struggles to adjust to life in Walford. He is hostile towards Ian and Bobby, having never forgiven them for their role in Lucy's death, but agrees to see them after a talk with Kathy.

Peter flirts with former girlfriend Lola, much to the annoyance of Lola's boyfriend Jay Brown. When Lola and Jay have a brief-falling out, Peter takes Lola to The Prince Albert and they both have a one-night stand. Lola immediately regrets sleeping with Peter and warns him that it was a mistake. Peter becomes close to Dotty Cotton and they almost kiss, but are interrupted by Bobby. Peter bonds with Ash Panesar which makes her girlfriend, Iqra Ahmed, jealous. Peter also attracts interest from Ash's mother Suki Panesar and they sleep together, unbeknownst to Ash. Despite this, Peter and Ash's friendship blossoms and they start dating when Iqra and Ash's relationship ends.

Peter decides to impress Ash by jogging around the square in a cape, however he falls and injures himself. Ash gives Peter medication, despite not being on duty and having consumed alcohol, leading to her being suspended. Their relationship is tested again when Ash's brother, Jags, is killed in prison, and Peter fails to support Ash and ignores her. He later becomes jealous when he sees Ash with another man.

After Ian disappears, Peter is left in charge of his businesses. He becomes disliked and clashes with his cousin, Martin Fowler and Kat Slater, when he organizes a racial discrimination campaign against her taxi firm when Ash believes that Harvey Monroe has made a racial remark towards her. This strains his relationship with Ash who believes Peter is only interested in order to expand his business. Peter decides to sponsor a Christmas tree for the square and enters a feud with Mick Carter and Janine Butcher when they try to outbid him. When Peter is attacked by Ben, he enters a depression episode, and when Lewis Butler leaves, he tells Peter it was Ben who attacked him and that Kathy knows. This leads to Peter feeling unloved by his family. Peter later has sex with Dana Monroe at the restaurant, and is seen by Ben, who exposes the two at Tom Cotton's birthday party before he is arrested after Peter calls the police on Ben after seeing that he is the favourite. After this, Peter leaves Walford after stealing money from Kathy and insulting everyone in his family. On 18 July 2022, Peter empties the business account, leaving Kathy without any money. This leads to Kathy selling Walford East to Suki.

2023 to present[]

On 22 June 2023 it is revealed that Peter is living in France with Ian and Cindy after Peter and Ian discovered that she was still alive and Ian and Cindy got back together. Lauren bring Louie over to France so that Peter can spend some time with him, Lauren and Peter later kiss and Peter attempts to persuade Lauren to give him another chance. However, when Lauren sees Cindy and discovers that Peter knew she was alive she calls Peter a liar and leaves.

On 22 August 2023 Peter discovers that he has two sisters from Cindy's previous marriage to George Knight that she kept a secret after Peter hears a voicemail on Cindy's phone from Anna Knight, Peter then returns to Walford against Ian's wishes to meet his sisters. The next day Bobby finds Peter on the sofa and Peter apologises to Bobby for stealing from the family and his general antics before he left, Peter goes to the Vic and begins talking to Gina and Anna with both of them unaware than he is their brother. Ben later sees Peter and attempts to square up to him but is ordered to leave the pub by George, Peter is then concerned when he finds out that Bobby and Anna have been getting close and attempts to put a stop to it, however despite Peter's best efforts Anna and Bobby later kiss leaving Peter horrified. Peter is left horrified again when Gina flirts with him and attempts to kiss him and he backs away knocking over a glass, George turns around and assumes Peter was harassing Gina and throws Peter out of the Vic and tells him to stay away from Gina. When Cindy returns and reveals to Gina and Anna that Peter is their half-brother they meet Peter at The Prince Albert and Peter apologises for not telling them everything and asks for a chance to get to know them, to which they accept. Peter later tries to sleep with Priya Nandra-Hart but the two are unable to have sex.

Cindy and Ian later go into business with a silent partner to run the pie and mash shop, Ian and Cindy are horrified to discover that their silent partner is Dean Wicks who raped Linda Carter in 2014. Peter later creates some logos for the pie and mash shop but Gina refuses to talk to him, insisting he's going into business with a rapist. Peter later speaks speaks to Dean and tells him he wants no part of it, to which Dean I'd understanding but later speaks to Peter again and tells him it will cost his parents to find a new logo. Peter agrees to let Dean have the logo but says he won't take any further part in the pie and mash shop, however Gina sees Peter and Dean talking.

Peter is later hospitalised after a fire at the café, Peter went inside the fire to rescue Bobby and they managed to escape after Tom (who started the fire) helps them get out. Peter and Bobby are both rushed to the hospital, Bobby wakes up but Peter suffers lung damage and is put on life support.

On New Years Day 2024, Peter is missing Lauren and their son Louie. Ian and Cindy are boring him with board games, so Peter heads to Peggy's to see Gina, Anna, Bobby, Jay, Ben and Callum Highway, whilst his parents head to the Vic. Jay spots a woman looking at Peter. They all encourage Peter to talk to her. They say their hellos and then Peter and the woman go elsewhere to sleep together. When Lauren rings Peter, the woman assumes that Lauren is Peter's girlfriend and says that she has a fiancee. Lauren then lets Peter know over the phone she is coming back to Walford. Lauren's cousin Penny Branning to go with them but plants drugs in Lauren's bag in an attempt to smuggle drugs into the country for her drug dealer Juliette Dubois, however a sniffer dog smells the drugs at the airport and Lauren is arrested. Penny later tells the police that she planted the drugs in Lauren's bag when Peter finds out and tells her to tell the police or he will. Lauren is released and goes to see Louie, Lauren and Peter reminisce about the past and he asks her to stay for longer but Lauren says that Walford reminds her too much of Abi. Penny and Lauren later meets and Penny admits that she planted the drugs in Lauren's bag, Lauren is furious and when she discovers that Peter knew she decides to leave Walford. Just as Lauren is about to leave Walford Whitney and Sonia tell Lauren that Annie is her sister. Bobby goes to see Lauren to convince and is successful in convincing her to make peace with Peter for lying to her and letting her see her angry is more rightly place at Penny rather tha Peter. Peter becomes angry at Penny because she announces that her and Lauren and Louie are moving in together and Peter doesn't want his son in the same house as a drug dealer, however Peter and Penny later get drunk (unknown to Peter Penny fakes being drunk) and clear the air, Peter accepts Penny, Lauren and Louie living together when Penny explains her reasons for the drugs incident.

Lauren and Peter realise they still have feelings for each other. Ian encourages Peter to win Lauren back, while Cindy tells Lauren to only rekindle her relationship with Peter, if she is absolutely sure they will not break up again, for Louie's sake. Uncertain, Lauren rejects Peter's attempts to romance her.

Peter later is supportive of Bobby and Anna relationship and when his mum decides to reconnect with Cindy Williams Jr Peter goes with her for support.

Employment history[]

Occupation Years Active
Student 1997-2010
Waiter at Scarlett’s 2013
Waiter at Beales 2014-2015
Manager of Walford East 2021-2022
Personal trainer at Crunch Time
Employee at Beale's Plaice

Residence[]

Address Years
29A Albert Square 1996, 19972000, 2024-
27 Albert Square 2000-2002
55 Victoria Road 2004-2007
45 Albert Square 2007-2010, 2014-2015, 2020-2022, 2023-2024
89C George Street 2013-2014
New Zealand 2015-2020
Jouars-Pontchartrain, France 2022-2023

Fight count[]

Punches[]

  1. Dean (29 November 2013)

Total: 1

Individual characters punched: 1

Total punches: 1

Kicks[]

  1. Vince (31 May 2010)

Total: 1

Individual characters kicked: 1

Total kicks: 1

Quotes[]

See also[]

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