Kathy Beale

Kathy Beale (also Mitchell,Sullivan and Cotton) is a fictional character from the BBCsoap operaEastEnders, played by Gillian Taylforth. Portrayed as "an attractive, bright, caring and highly moral woman", Kathy is one of the serial's original characters, appearing in the first episode of EastEnders on 19 February 1985. She was created as the second wife of Pete Beale (Peter Dean) and mother of their son, Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt). Taylforth was originally dismissed for the role of Kathy due to her young age, but was reconsidered when she impressed show bosses. The actress opted to leave the serial in 1997 and Kathy departed on 10 April 1998 after deciding to move to South Africa with her second son Ben Mitchell. Kathy returned for two separate guest stints in 1999, making her departure on 6 January 2000. Despite reports that Taylforth would be returning to the serial, Kathy was supposedly killed off-screen in a road collision in 2006 to facilitate Ben's reintroduction to the serial. Taylforth reprised the role for a charity special "The Ghosts of Ian Beale" in 2014. In the episode broadcast on 19 February 2015 to celebrate the show's 30th anniversary, Kathy made a surprise return to the soap, despite being presumed dead. It was confirmed that Kathy would be making a full-time return, and – after a guest appearance on 19 May 2015 – Kathy returned permanently on 17 August 2015. Taylforth was initially hesitant about her reintroduction storyline, which was inspired by the John Darwin disappearance case. Taylforth appeared in her 2,000th episode on 22 May 2023.

Kathy remained in a prominent role throughout her original stint on the serial, including a friendship with Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), and featuring in high-profiled storylines involving her rape at the hands of James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde) and the discovery of a long-lost daughter, Donna Ludlow (Matilda Ziegler), after she was sexually assaulted as a teenager. In 1993, following the character's marriage with her husband Pete ended with the latter's departure from the square, Kathy developed a romance with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden). Their relationship suffered when Phil had an affair with his sister-in-law Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) — a storyline popularly dubbed "Sharongate". Kathy and Phil later had a son, Ben, who contracts a rare form of meningitis. The relationship between alcohol abuse and domestic violence was explored through Kathy and Phil in 1997, which led to their separation and Kathy's departure. In her 1999 return, she had a brief fling with Phil's brother and Sharon's husband, Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp).

Following her return in 2015, Kathy's third spouse Gavin Sullivan (Paul Nicholas) was introduced and their turbulent marriage was explored. Kathy later becomes critical in the events surrounding Max Branning's (Jake Wood) revenge campaign against Albert Square – in light of the "Who Killed Lucy Beale?" saga – when Willmott-Brown returned in his plan to recoup his relationship with Kathy by taking control of the square for her. Additionally, Kathy has relationships and flings with Buster Briggs (Karl Howman), Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra), Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman) and Tom "Rocky" Cotton (Brian Conley) and conflicts with both Max and his wife Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks) over the custody of her grandson Steven Beale's (Aaron Sidwell) daughter, Abi Branning, with Sharon over her relationship with Ian, and Rocky's niece Dotty Cotton (Milly Zero), who attempts to con her with Rocky. Kathy and Rocky marry, but Rocky ends up committing bigamy in the process, as his divorce from his first wife, Jo Cotton (Vicki Michelle), was never finalised. Kathy and Rocky later split when she discovers that he burned her café in an insurance scam which nearly killed her grandsons, Peter (Thomas Law) and Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell). In 2023, Kathy helps to cover up the murder of Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) in "The Six" storyline. Kathy also resumes her feud with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), which had previously occurred in the 1990s; Kathy then became a suspect in the "Who Attacked Cindy?" storyline and is ultimately revealed to be Cindy's attacker in the show's 40th anniversary special.