Conor Flaherty
Conor Flaherty is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portrayed by Seán Gleeson. The character debuted in a special week of episodes set in Ireland that were directed by Philip Casson and written by Tony McHale. These episodes aired from 22–25 September 1997 and were badly received by audiences and critics, due to their stereotypical depictions of Irish people and scenes featuring donkeys roaming the streets of Ireland. He last appeared on the soap on 22 February 1999.
Creation and development
In 1997, EastEnders producers announced that they were to extend the Beale/Fowler family in an "amazing" storyline that would see one of the soap's original characters, Pauline Fowler, discover that her mother, Lou Beale gave birth to an illegitimate child, back in 1933. It was also said that she was to travel to Ireland with other members of her family to meet her secret sister, Maggie Flaherty, in "sensational episodes". When there, the Beale/Fowler family are introduced to Maggie's son, Conor, and him and his daughter, Mary Flaherty, return home with them, though it was only originally announced that Mary would be permanent, and not Conor, as they wanted to keep details "tight-lipped". On his casting, Gleeson said that "the EastEnders cast are all really nice people."Irish actor, Colm Ó Maonlaí, had auditioned for the part of Conor but lost out to Gleeson. Maonlaí was later cast as Tom Banks, in 2002, as the old school friend of Conor's cousin, Mark Fowler. He said on that casting that the casting director remembered him from his previous audition.
Storylines
Conor first appears in 1997 when Pauline Fowler tracks down Connor's mother, Maggie Flaherty, who was revealed to be her long-lost sister. Conor also has a daughter, Mary Flaherty, the two of them moving to Walford with Pauline. Conor soon starts working as a mechanic for Phil Mitchell and as a loan shark for Annie Palmer.In 1998, Conor begins a close friendship with Mark's wife, Ruth Fowler, which causes strain in her marriage when they begin to fall for each other. They later begin an affair and Conor is worried when they have unprotected sex. Ruth finds out that she is pregnant, but tells Conor that she took the morning-after pill. When Mark discovers this, he beats Conor up. Conor and Mary later leave Walford for a new life in Scotland, hoping to find Ruth, who had also recently departed.