Lou Beale

Background The creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith, had always intended the programme to be primarily based around a large family "in old East-end tradition". By the 1980s, such families were on the decline in the East End. Natives had begun to emigrate out of East London to the wider area around Ilford, Romford, Chelmsford and Eastbourne. However, there were still some that refused to uproot and leave the area that had been home to many generations of their family. To construct the focal family, Holland and Smith were helped considerably by Tony Holland's recollections of his own East End background. Lou was the first EastEnders character to be created. She was based on Holland's aunt Lou Beale, one of four sisters from a large Walthamstow family. Lou was mother to his cousins Peter and Pauline and married to Albert – a family set-up that would eventually be recreated on-screen and would go on to be forever hailed as the first family of EastEnders, the Beales and Fowlers. Peter Batt, who was one of the original scriptwriters of EastEnders, has stated that elements of Lou Beale were based on his mother. Lou was the first character created by Smith and Holland for the show. Her original character outline as written by series creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story:"A lively 70 year old. Archetypal East-end mother-earth figure. Fat, funny, sometimes loud, often openly sentimental. An obsessive view of family...she can be a stubborn cruel "old bag" when she wants to be, sometimes keeping "atmospheres" going for months. It was always Lou's house that was used for the big family celebrations. Especially Christmas. Twenty or more people crammed into a tiny house. Five sisters wedged into a minuscule kitchen; drinking gin and orange; wearing funny hats; all wearing aprons; laughing raucously and trying to cook a huge dinner at the same time. Lou's house was also the meeting place for the family Sunday teas. Ham, or tinned salmon salad. Bread and butter. Jelly and tinned cream. And, tea...the changing face of the area (especially the immigrants) is a constant source of fear to her, but then she doesn't go out much. She prefers to be at home, or on a trip down memory lane: day trips to Southend – the Kursaal, Rossi's ice-cream and a plate of cockles; one wonderful week's holiday in a caravan in Clacton; fruit picking in Essex; Christmas; weddings; street parties...She has a soft spot for her son, Pete..." (page 51). When she first read for the part Holland and Smith felt that "she overacted terribly", but on the second reading she "brought the performance down considerably". She was told by producers to bring something from her own background to the role. Narrative, impact and progression Lou's fierce demeanour made an impact from the opening episode, with one of the popular press in Britain (The Sun newspaper) running the headline "Enter the dragon... Lou Beale!" Wing has since revealed that creator Julia Smith was devastated when she decided to leave, commenting "she said I could have been in it for ever and ever until I popped off for real." The character was subsequently killed off, dying in her sleep in July 1988 after being frequently ill throughout the year. The character's final episodes were written by Tony Holland and directed by Julia Smith. Lou spent her final day arranging her affairs, seeing various members of her family, passing on advice and giving them presents and at the end of the episode she announced: "That's you lot sorted. I can go now." At the start of episode 363, Lou was found to have died peacefully in her sleep. The episode then jumped a few days later to the day of her funeral – an emotional episode, which featured Pete breaking down at Lou's graveside and ended with him proposing a toast in the Vic to absent friends and that "bloody old bag." The episode was also notable for featuring, for the first time, a train crossing the railway viaduct in Bridge Street – a special-effects shot commissioned especially for the occasion. The train was actually a ten-second illusion, produced by the BBC's electronic workshop. One EastEnders official commented: "It cost an arm and a leg, but old Lou was worth it." Kenny appeared in EastEnders for a brief stint in episodes shown in February 1988, and is seen as a young child in the December 1988 spin-off CivvyStreet. Harry and Ronnie also appear in the spin-off episode, but do not appear in the television serial itself, although Ronnie was directly mentioned in the episode first shown on 11 December 1986. In 1997, another of Lou's children is introduced: Maggie Flaherty (Olivia Shanley), her eldest child, who was placed for adoption as she was born out of wedlock. Other than the already established Pete, Pauline and Kenny, Maggie remains the only sibling to appear in the on-screen serial. In 2000, an EastEnders book was published entitled ''EastEnders Who's Who''. The book pertains to the existence of Ronnie and yet another child, Maureen, who had both died. Harry and Dora are not mentioned in the book and neither Maureen nor Dora has been mentioned or seen on-screen, however, Pauline recounts the story of Arthur proposing to her on her unnamed sister's wedding day on multiple occasions. ==Storylines==