EastEnders created the Beale and Fowler family, drawing on his own background. His mother, Ethel Holland, was one of four sisters raised in Walthamstow. Her eldest sister, Lou, had married a man named Albert Beale and had two children, named Peter and Pauline. These family members were the basis for Lou Beale, Pete Beale and Pauline Fowler. Holland also created Pauline's unemployed husband Arthur Fowler, their children Mark Fowler and Michelle Fowler, Pete's wife Kathy Beale and their son Ian Beale. Smith used her personal memories of East End residents she met when researching Victorian squares. Ethel Skinner was based on
EastEnders episodes in Ireland his first marriage but he doesn't get on with her. When Mary decides she wants to move to Walford with Pauline, Conor also follows her. Mary Flaherty, played by Melanie Clark Pullen, is the daughter of Conor Flaherty (Seán Gleeson). Mary is having an affair with an older married man, Gerry McCrae. She decides to move to Walford with the Fowlers to escape her alcoholic, violent grandfather, Sean, who finds out about her affair. Her father also follows her. Eamonn Flaherty, portrayed by Maurice O'Donoghue, is Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard)'s nephew – the eldest son of her long-lost sister Maggie