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
Pauline Fowler that we had put the information across." The HIV storyline came to an end on-screen in 2003, when executive producer Louise Berridge decided to axe Mark Fowler. In the serial, Mark discovers his HIV medication is failing, but instead of allowing Pauline to witness his deterioration, he leaves to spend the remainder of his life travelling. Richard has classed Mark's exit as her most difficult storyline, commenting: "I was so genuinely upset that Todd Carty, who played Mark, was going I could barely get my lines out for want of crying—but everybody said I acted it well. It was, I