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
Arthur Fowler in 1996. Unemployed Arthur lives in Walford with his wife Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), their two children Mark Fowler (David Scarboro and Todd Carty) and Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully) and Pauline's mother Lou Beale (Anna Wing). Pauline is pregnant with her third child, and gives birth to a son, Martin Fowler (Jon Peyton Price and James Alexandrou). Arthur's greatest pleasure is gardening and he obtains a spot in the local allotment, which he regularly uses as a foil to escape his nagging wife and his equally nagging mother-in-law. Over the years Arthur finds a steady stream of odd jobs to