List of EastEnders characters introduced in 1991
The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 1991, by order of first appearance.
Eibhlin O'Donnell
Eibhlin O'Donnell, played by Mary Conlon, is an Irish woman who met and dated Eddie Royle in the early 1980s, when her job for the Irish tourist board in Dublin took her to a London office for a six-month stint. Eibhlin was committed to her close-knit Catholic family, so when her work placement ended, she returned to Dublin and her relationship with Eddie ended. Eibhlin visits Eddie in Walford in January 1991. Eibhlin is in her mid-thirties and considering getting married. She wants to start dating Eddie again. When Eddie's current girlfriend, Kathy Beale, sees how close Eddie and Eibhlin are, she breaks up with Eddie. Instead of reuniting with Eibhlin, Eddie opts to try and win Kathy back, so Eibhlin returns to Ireland. When Eddie is badly beaten by Grant Mitchell in April 1991, Eibhlin returns to Walford to visit him in hospital. Eddie's brush with death makes him rethink marriage, and he proposes to Eibhlin. She accepts and in August 1991, she moves in with Eddie at The Queen Victoria public house, of which Eddie is landlord. A part of Eibhlin is not convinced that marriage to Eddie will work; they do not get the opportunity to find out as Eddie is murdered by Nick Cotton in September that year. A devastated and heartbroken Eibhlin then returns to Ireland.Rachel Kominski
Rachel Kominski, played by Jacquetta May, owns number 55 Victoria Road. She befriends Michelle Fowler and is initially keen for her to become her lodger, but when she learns Michelle has a young daughter, she rents the bedroom to singer Karen. Rachel later befriends Michelle's uncle Pete Beale, and agrees to have a drink with him sometime. Pete mistakes this for a date and is disappointed when she does not show up. Rachel apologises to him the following day and supports him when she discovers his flat has been trashed. Rachel helps Michelle get her wages from a timeshare company that tried to withhold it.Rachel's former boyfriend [|Russell Nash] arrives at number 55 when she unknowingly hires his friend to put some shelves up for her. Russell tries to convince her to get back together with him, until Rachel tells him that she had hated the three years they were together. Rachel becomes fed up with Karen's loud music, untidiness and boyfriend Clyde Tavernier's presence in the house. Just as Rachel confronts her, Karen tells her that she is moving out, as she has accepted a job in Manchester. Rachel invites Michelle to be her lodger. Rachel sees potential in Michelle, and encourages her to apply to college, which she does. She dates Michelle's brother, Mark Fowler, and he confides in her that he is HIV-positive. She later supports him when he tells his parents, who do not react well. Rachel reluctantly helps Michelle hide Clyde in the spare room when he goes on the run from the police, having been accused of murdering Eddie Royle.
She also supports Kathy Beale when Kathy learns her rapist James Willmott-Brown is planning on returning to the Square. She accompanies Kathy when she meets Willmott-Brown at a hotel to hear him out, and continues to be a confidante when Willmott-Brown sends Kathy cassette tapes. Mark moves in with Rachel and Michelle, but this soon leads to the end of the relationship, as he and Rachel argue. When one of the university courses she teaches is dropped, Rachel begins looking for part-time work. Her mother also informs her that she and Rachel's father will no longer be sending her money to help with the mortgage. Rachel's mother later comes to stay and reveals several of Rachel's secrets to her friends. After the rest of her courses are dropped, Rachel finds work at the Bridge Street café and has a bric-a-brac market stall, where she meets market inspector Richard Cole. Rachel has sex with Richard, but he soon begins pursuing Kathy. Richard later gives her pitch to Sanjay Kapoor. Rachel leaves Walford after she receives a job offer at a publishing house in Leeds.
Peggy Mitchell
Peggy Mitchell, initially played by Jo Warne when she first appears on 30 April 1991, features in the series on a recurring basis over several weeks. Peggy is reintroduced in 1994, recast and played by Barbara Windsor. Peggy becomes a regular character, and Windsor played the role for 16 years. She announced in October 2009 that she would be leaving the show, and departs in September 2010. The character has made annual returns from 2013 onwards for singular episode stints, however, in January 2016, it was revealed that Peggy would be killed off as her cancer would return. Peggy returned to Albert Square for one week in May 2016 for her death, with her character finally committing suicide on 17 May 2016.Peggy is fiercely protective of her family and the Mitchell name, and has become famous for her catchphrase "Get outta my pub!", used when ejecting people from The Queen Victoria, of which she is the landlady. Her storylines have seen her embark on a series of failed romances, including marriages to Frank Butcher and Archie Mitchell. She has been central to several plot strands revolving around health issues, launching a hate campaign against the HIV positive character Mark Fowler, and going on to make amends with him when she is later diagnosed with breast cancer.
Russell Nash
Russell Nash, played by Ray Ashcroft, is the ex-boyfriend of Rachel Kominski, who arrives in Walford after she unknowingly hires one of his friends to put some bookshelves up for her. He attempts to reconcile with her, but she does not want to get back together with him, and ends up telling him that she had hated their three years together, especially the sex.Kevin Masters
Kevin Masters, played by Colin McCormack, owns a minicab firm. Peggy Mitchell starts work for him and they begin an affair; however, Peggy is forced to end it when her husband Eric Mitchell develops cancer. Kevin comes back into Peggy's life promptly after Eric's death, but her children take against him, particularly her daughter Sam. Kevin attends a family meal at the B&B where Sam and her boyfriend Ricky Butcher announce their engagement much to Peggy's shock and anger. Peggy then tells Kevin to warn Ricky off, which he does. When Ricky and Sam are found parked in a van in a graveyard, Kevin and Peggy drag Sam home. He is also present when the Mitchells and Butchers set off to Scotland to find Ricky and Sam in order to stop them marrying. Both families are ultimately unsuccessful. Kevin attends Ricky and Sam's blessing in Walford with Peggy, after he persuades Peggy to attend. Following the blessing Kevin is not seen again. Off-screen, Peggy and Kevin remain together until 1994, when Peggy discovers that he has been cheating on her with another woman. Kevin is later retconned out of existence when Peggy gets together with George Palmer, as she states she hasn't been in a serious relationship since Eric died.Gill Fowler
Gill Fowler, played by Susanna Dawson from 1991 to 1992, is the first wife of Mark Fowler. Gill met Mark in Newcastle during 1989 and they lived together until 1990 when Gill tested positive for HIV and moved to London. Mark discovered that he was HIV positive as well and returned to Walford.The following year, Gill was diagnosed as having AIDS and visits Mark to ask if he has been tested for HIV. At first Mark denies that he has the virus but later admits to her that he is HIV positive. They are never certain which of them had contracted the virus first.
They soon rekindle their relationship and Gill marry Mark on 23 June 1992, but she dies in a hospice the following day.
Susanna Dawson who played Gill found the experience of playing a person living with and dying from AIDS so intense that she co-produced an educational video based on the subject for use in schools and wrote a book, The Gill and Mark Story, to accompany it.
In October 1999, All About Soap magazine placed Mark and Gill's wedding at number six on their twenty greatest soap weddings list. The magazine said "Knowing Gill was so close to dying from AIDS, Mark decided his final act of commitment would be to marry her. Sadly, she died in his arms later that afternoon in what remains one of soap's most tear-jerking weddings of all time."
Joe Wallace
Joe Wallace, played by Jason Rush, is a young, gay chef who is HIV-positive. He arrives in Walford in July 1991 looking for labouring work at the Dagmar renovation. He befriends Ian Beale when he helps him move some freezers, and Ian gets Joe some work on the site and a room at the local B&B. Joe recognises Mark Fowler from the Terrence Higgins Trust, but Mark initially denies that it was him. Ian later gives Joe a job at his restaurant, The Meal Machine. Joe encourages Mark to tell his parents that he is HIV-positive. When Ian discovers that Joe has HIV, he sacks him and disinfects his whole kitchen. Joe then leaves Walford to live with his parents in Cowley and is the last person to see Eddie Royle alive before Eddie is murdered in September that year by Nick Cotton.Joe saves Clyde Tavernier from being convicted of the crime, by testifying that he saw Nick climb down his drainpipe the night Eddie was murdered. This implicates Nick as a suspect and provides enough reasonable doubt to secure Clyde's release from custody and Nick is remanded for thirteen months. At Nick's trial in January 1993, Joe briefly returns as a witness. In spite of Joe's testimony, Nick is found not guilty of murder.
Joe's mother [|Jackie], writes to Mark telling him he is dying in a hospice in 1994. Joe's death of HIV shocks Mark, but it is visiting the hospice that leads him to meet his future wife, Ruth Aitken.
Joe was the first gay character to have HIV in a British soap opera.