Lou Beale

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EastEnders character

Lou Beale
Portrayed by	Anna Wing
Duration	1985–1988
First appearance	19 February 1985
Last appearance	26 July 1988
Book appearances	Home Fires Burning, Swings and Roundabouts, Good Intentions, The Flower of Albert Square
Date of birth	1915
Date of Death	26 July 1988
Marital status	Deceased
Occupation	Housewife
Family	Albert, Maggie, Harry, Dora, Ronnie, Kenny, Pete, Pauline, Terence, Flo, Doris, Liz, Elsie, Queenie

Louise Ada "Lou" Beale (née Medeemey) was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Anna Wing. The character was also played by Karen Meagher in the 1988 EastEnders special, Civvy Street, set during the Second World War.

Lou was the archetypal East End matriarch throughout EastEnders' first three years. An intimidating force within the local community, she was the dowager of Albert Square's central family, the Beales and Fowlers. Never afraid to speak her mind, and woe betide anyone who managed to get on her wrong side, Lou had the respect of her friends and family, even if they did find her a bit of a nuisance at times.

1 Character creation and development
2 Lou's history
3 Family
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Character creation and development

Lou Beale was the first EastEnders character to be created by series co-creator Tony Holland, taking the inspiration for some of the series' earliest characters from his own London family and background. Lou was based on his aunt Lou Beale, one of four sisters from a large Walthamstow family,^[1] mother to his cousins Peter and Pauline and sister to his mother Ethel. Lou's 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.

'LOUISE (Lou) BEALE. 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 Kursal, 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...'.^[2]

Anna Wing was cast as Lou due to her heritage in Hackney, East London, and told by producers to "bring something from your background" to the role.^[3]

When EastEnders began in 1985, Pauline and Pete were the only two of Lou's offspring to feature on screen. Through the dialogue of the characters we were also introduced to the existence of three other children; Keith, Paul and Norma — who had moved away to Romford and Eastbourne before the series began. As is customary for an ongoing television serial, details and facts are forgotten and recreated throughout the life of the serial. In 1988, Keith, Paul and Norma had been forgotten in favour of Kenny, Harry and Ronnie.

Lou Beale as she appeared in the first episode of EastEnders (February 1985).

The character of Lou Beale also featured heavily within a series of spin-off EastEnders novels by Hugh Miller, set prior to 1985. Within the novelisations, we were introduced to characters from Lou's history; sons Harry and Ronnie, a daughter Dora and siblings Elsie, Liz, Queenie and Terence. Harry and Ronnie also appeared in the spin-off episode EastEnders: Civvy Street. These characters did not feature within the television serial itself.

Within the EastEnders novels, Harry, Dora and Ronnie moved away from home when they were in their twenties and lost contact with their mother. The Beales' fruit and veg stall on Bridge Street market was passed to Ronnie after his father's death, and again passed to Pete when Ronnie moved away from Walford.^[4]^[5]

[edit] Lou's history

Lou was a true East End girl and lived in Walford all her life. Albert and Lou came to their house on the corner of Albert Square, number forty-five, on getting married during the 1930s. Lou remained in the house throughout the Second World War and brought up her children there. Her affinity and ties with the area meant that she tended to view Albert Square as her own and that gave her an excuse to intrude into anyone's business as she saw fit.

Lou was mother to Kenny and twins Pete and Pauline. After the untimely death of her beloved husband in 1970, Lou remained in the house on Albert Square with her daughter's family; son-in-law Arthur and grandchildren, Michelle and Mark. Kenny emigrated to New Zealand in the 1960s and it was left to Pauline and Pete to tend to their mum's welfare in her old-age.

Lou was great friends with Dot Cotton and Ethel Skinner, her life-long neighbours. She also had a good relationship with the local general practitioner, Dr Legg and the old Jewish pawnbroker known only as 'Uncle'.

She had a tempestuous relationship with son-in-law Arthur; nothing he did was ever good enough for her daughter Pauline. In February 1985, she was furious to discover that Pauline had fallen pregnant for the third time, her family already financially crippled by Arthur's long stint of unemployment. Lou wasn't adverse to speaking her mind or scolding her family if she disapproved of their actions, but she soon came to celebrate her grandson Martin's birth - although she would have preferred him to be named Albert after her late husband. She was a strict traditionalist and moralist but she believed in strong family-values most of all, and would defend her family to the hilt if any outsider dared to criticise. She provided a warm shoulder to cry on when Michelle found out she was pregnant in late 1985 and was supportive of her favourite grandchild, Ian, on his plans to work within the catering-trade rather than following in his father's footsteps in a more masculine occupation.

Dot, Ethel and Lou.

Lou had a long standing feud with son Pete's ex-wife Pat, having never forgiven her for having an affair with his older brother Kenny. And Lou was plagued with mixed-feelings when Kenny returned to London in 1988, after banishing him from their lives twenty years previously. She had always had a difficult relationship with her son, feeling him to be "too big for the Square" and feared that Pat's revelation, that he was the true father of Pete's son Simon, would tear her beloved family apart. But before his return to New Zealand, Lou managed to make amends with her estranged son, despite Pat's malicious stirring - who later admitted to Simon that Brian Wicks was his real father after all.

In her later years, Lou was plagued with ill-health. In July 1988, she returned from a holiday in her beloved Leigh-on-Sea feeling distinctly out of sorts. Sensing her own demise, she took the opportunity to announce to her nearest-and-dearest exactly what she thought of them; even managing to make a truce of sorts with arch-nemesis Pat. After gathering her clan of Beales and Fowlers around her, she had a few choice words of wisdom and encouragement for each family-member. The next morning, she was discovered dead in her bed by daughter Pauline, having died peacefully in her sleep the previous night. Her friends and family mourned her passing affectionately, never quite managing to forget the irreplaceable "old bag".

The youngest of seven siblings, Lou was from a large East End family herself. Only her sister Flo came to outlive her. In 1990, Harry Osborne returned to Albert Square – he had been engaged to Lou's sister Doris but she had married Morris Miller after he was presumed dead in the war. In 1993, Lou's relative Nellie came to stay with Pauline and Arthur. In 1997, it was discovered that Lou had given birth to another daughter, also fathered by Albert, who Lou had given up for adoption after she was conceived out of wedlock. Pauline, Ian and Mark travelled to Ireland later that year to reunite with their long-lost family member, Maggie Flaherty.

[edit] Family

Brother: Terence Medeemey
Sisters: Elsie Medeemey (deceased), Liz Medeemey (deceased), Queenie Medeemey (deceased), Flo Medeemey, Doris Miller (deceased)
Husband: Albert Beale (deceased)
Sons: Pete Beale (deceased), Kenny Beale, Ronnie Beale (deceased), Harry Beale
Daughters: Pauline Fowler, Maggie Flaherty, Dora Beale
Grandsons: Mark Fowler (deceased), Martin Fowler, Conor Flaherty, Ian Beale, David Wicks, Eamonn Flaherty, Tommy Flaherty, John Flaherty
Granddaughters: Michelle Fowler, Elizabeth Beale
Great grandsons: Peter Beale, Bobby Beale, Joe Wicks, Mark Fowler Jr., Eamonn Flaherty Jr.
Great granddaughters: Vicki Fowler, Colette Flaherty, Kylie Flaherty, Rebecca Miller, Mary Flaherty, Lucy Beale, Karen Wicks (deceased), Bianca Jackson
Great great grandson: Liam Butcher
Great great granddaughter: Natasha Butcher (deceased)
Second cousin: Nellie Ellis