Lucy Beale
| Lucy Beale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| File:Lucy Beale3.jpg Melissa Suffield as Lucy Beale (2009) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Eva Brittin-Snell (1993–96) Casey Anne Rothery (1996–2004) Melissa Suffield (2004–10) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1993— | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 16 December 1993 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Returning; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Leonard Lewis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances | EastEnders: E20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| File:Lcy baby.jpg Casey Anne Rothery as Lucy in 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lucy Katherine Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Eva Brittin-Snell from 1993 to 1996, Casey Anne Rothery from 1996 until 2004, and Melissa Suffield from 2004 to 2010, and another actress yet to be announced from 2010 onwards. Lucy was introduced in December 1993 as the newborn baby of characters Ian (Adam Woodyatt) and Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins). She is the twin sister of Peter (Thomas Law), and has three half siblings, older brother Steven (Edward Savage, Aaron Sidwell), younger sister Cindy (Eva Sayer) and younger brother Bobby (Alex Francis). The character had few storylines of her own until 2004 when the role was recast to an older actress. Storylines featuring Lucy have since focused upon her teenage rebellion.
Development
As a baby and toddler, Lucy was played by Eva Brittin-Snell for the first three years. Casey Anne Rothery took over the role in 1996 and played Lucy for nearly eight years. In 2004 it was decided to cast the role to an older actress and Melissa Suffield took over. In March 2010, Suffield said that she wished "people didn't think I was like [Lucy] in real life because I'm not."[1]
In 2010 Lucy is involved in a pregnancy storyline, on which Suffield said "I'm excited about the storyline because it's something brilliant to get my teeth into. I love playing 'bitch Lucy', but you'll soon see a completely different side to her."[2] The storyline involved Lucy offering to have the baby so that it could be brought up by Ian and her step mother Jane (Laurie Brett).
In May 2010 it was announced that Suffield had been axed from the show allegedly due to "unruly behaviour" off-set.[3] In June it was confirmed that the character will be recast.[4] Suffield left the show on 27 August. [5]
Storylines
Lucy has an unsettled childhood. At the age of two, her mother Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) attempts to have her father Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) shot, and then flees the country with Lucy's brothers, Peter and Steven. She fails to get to Lucy in time and for almost a year, Lucy is separated from her brothers before Ian gets them back. Lucy is reunited with Cindy when she returns to fight for custody of her children in 1997. Cindy is given custody of all three children in 1998, but she is arrested directly after the court case for the attempted murder of Ian. She dies during childbirth in prison, but her baby, Cindy, survives and is given to Cindy's sister Gina (Nicola Cowper). Lucy then grows up with various stepmothers, the first of whom, Melanie Healy (Tamsin Outhwaite), only marries Ian after Ian lies that Lucy has cancer. The marriage ends when Melanie discovers a letter giving Lucy the all-clear. Second stepmother, Laura (Hannah Waterman), provides Lucy with another half brother, Bobby, in 2003. By the time her third stepmother, Jane Collins (Laurie Brett), enters her life, Lucy is wary. She rejects Jane, missing her real mother, but they eventually bond and Lucy is happy when Ian and Jane marry in 2007.
As Lucy progresses into her teenage years, she begins to show signs of rebellion — stealing, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, lying, playing truant from school, being surly to her parents, and taking a keen interest in boys. Things worsen when Ian employs 18-year-old Craig Dixon (Rory Jennings) to work alongside Lucy in his chip shop. The pair are instantly attracted to one another, and despite Craig being five years older than Lucy, they begin a secret relationship. Craig proves a bad influence on Lucy, and upon discovering their relationship, Ian punches Craig, and warns him away. The pair secretly run away to be together, with Lucy seemingly unafraid of the fact Craig carries a gun and has assaulted shopkeeper Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker). However, when he tries to press her for sexual intercourse, she panics, returns to Walford, and confesses his crime to her father. Craig is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder; however Lucy keeps his gun, which he has stashed in her bag. Soon, Lucy claims she is in touch with her dead mother Cindy. It transpires that she has in fact been contacted by her brother Steven, posing as Cindy in order to kidnap Ian. He holds Ian hostage for weeks, while moving in with his frantic, but unsuspecting family. The situation culminates with Steven accidentally shooting Jane with Craig's gun. After Ian gets Steven some psychiatric help, Ian allows him to live with them, to Lucy's delight. In March 2008, Ian and Lucy have a row over a party of Lucy's. Ian slaps his daughter, and she runs away. The Beales search for Lucy for weeks, before it is revealed that Steven has been hiding her, turning her against her family and convincing her to move to France, so that he might usurp her place in their affections. Ian discovers the truth and is able to convince Lucy to come home, banishing Steven from their lives.
Lucy's rebellion continues. She leaves home temporarily to move in with Jane's brother Christian Clarke (John Partridge), has a relationship with the older Olly Greenwood (Bart Edwards) and decides to go on the contraceptive pill. Lucy inadvertly walks in on Christian and Syed Masood (Marc Elliott) kissing in an alleyway, though they do not see her. She then begins a blackmail vendetta by spray-painting the Masoods' door with the words 'bad boy', sending a picture of them kissing to Syed, and sending threatening text messages and demanding money. Syed pays the £300 she demands and she buys a mobile phone, only to be mugged by Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) and left unconscious. When the phone is found in a bin, Christian realises that Lucy is the blackmailer and tells Syed, who confronts her. Lucy meets Leon Small (Sam Attwater), and they start an on-off relationship with each other, with Lucy losing her virginity to Leon. However Leon has feelings for Zsa Zsa Carter (Emer Kenny), and the two get together, much to Lucy's annoyance. Soon, Lucy reveals to Jane that she is pregnant by Leon. Jane tells Lucy she should consider having an abortion and Ian would never have to know. When the letter confirming the appointment arrives, Peter picks it up by mistake and talks to Lucy about her pregnancy. Lucy then proposes to Jane that she and Ian can adopt the baby. Jane gives it some thought and accepts Lucy's proposal. Lucy and Jane tell Ian that Lucy is pregnant, and he reacts badly, attempting to book an abortion and find Leon. When they tell him their plan, he initially says they are mad, but then Ian reluctantly agrees. However, Lucy soon realises she does not want to go through with it, and tells Ian she wants an abortion. After the abortion, Ian tells Jane that Lucy had a miscarriage. Lucy then tells Leon she had an abortion. Months later, in an attempt to show Zsa Zsa what Leon is really like, she reveals to Zsa Zsa that Leon was the person who got her pregnant. Zsa Zsa is angry with Leon for not helping Lucy through her miscarriage, so he reveals that she had an abortion, which Peter hears. He is then disgusted with Lucy and Ian for lying to Jane.
Lucy asks Adam Best (David Proud) to help her cheat her exams. He asks for payment, which she steals from the café. Ian catches her, and she admits she has been buying exam papers. She goes to Adam, who turns down her cash, saying he wants payment in kind. After Lucy's final exam, Adam demands sex but she refuses and slams the door on him, saying she has played him at his own game and won. Lucy fears that Adam has informed the school that she cheated when she is called to see a teacher, and informs Peter that she has cheated. However, the teacher tells Lucy she aced her exams and is destined for Oxbridge. Peter calls her unbelievable, and later confronts Adam, causing Adam's girlfriend Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu) to overhear what he has done to Lucy. Libby then dumps Adam, which causes him to leave Walford.
Lucy receives mostly As and A*s in her GCSEs, but as the family celebrate, they are interrupted by the headteacher Mr Allcock (Bill Buckhurst) who says Lucy's results are inconsistent and there has been an allegation of cheating, and that the exam board will have to look at both Lucy and Peter's exam papers. Lucy eventually confesses to Jane that she did cheat and finds out she will have to retake the whole year, so she decides to give up school and live with her grandmother in Devon, unaware that Jane knows she had an abortion.
Reception
In July 2007, Gareth McLean of The Guardian lamented the lack of strong female characters in EastEnders, noting that Lucy "is yet to come into her own".[6] Fellow Guardian critic Grace Dent commented on the repetitive nature of EastEnders storylines by comparing Lucy's relationship with Jane to the fraught mother-daughter bond between Kat (Jessie Wallace) and Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan).[7] The Sun's Ally Ross similarly commented in April 2008 that Lucy was simply a regeneration of previous teenage runaway character Diane Butcher (Sophie Lawrence).[8] The Daily Mail's Caroline Fitton used Lucy as an example of clichéd characterisation in the soap, writing that Albert Square had "become one giant clichéd Fagin's den–from Big Mo (Laila Morse) [...] to Stacey Slater to Lucy Beale, who is fast becoming a little tea leaf, the rate of petty crime escalates daily."[9] Lucy was used by Jane Simon of the Daily Mirror to highlight a trend in the soap for husbands to prioritise their "Chavvy girlfriends" over their "doting wives", with the critic noting: "With Max (Jake Wood) and Rob (Stuart Laing) choosing Stacey and Dawn (Kara Tointon) over Tanya (Jo Joyner) and May (Amanda Drew), the feckless males of Albert Square are clearly voting with their, er, feet. No wonder Lucy Beale has started swigging alcopops on a park bench with a bunch of hoodies. By this time next week she'll have got herself a tattoo, a Staffordshire bull terrier and a chartered accountant lover."[10]
A 2008 report commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families advised parents to use fictional characters and storylines to engage their children in conversation about sexual intercourse and relationships, using Lucy and her plans to have underage sexual intercourse as an example. The report explained: "Parents should feed off the everyday and broach conversations about sexual intercourse and sexual education as part of wider discussions. This provides a springboard for parents to communicate their values as well as helping teens challenge their own beliefs."[11]
When Lucy's brother Steven returned to the show, took Ian hostage and shot Jane, Digital Spy's Dek Hogan noted that: "Throughout all of this, credit has to be given to young Melissa Suffield whose role as Lucy has been pivotal. She's done an excellent job as the confused rebellious teenager and hints of Cindy have shone through."[12] Suffield was nominated 'Best Child Actor' in the 2008 Digital Spy awards, but lost to Ellis Hollins–Tom Cunningham from Hollyoaks.[13]
When EastEnders embarked upon a storyline which saw Lucy's peer Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) abused by the ephebophile Tony King (Chris Coghill), the Daily Mirror's Tony Stewart questioned whether viewers would take the plot seriously, given the "sexually precocious" nature of the soap's storylines, and the fact that only recently, Lucy, who is just a year younger than Whitney, had almost given her virginity to her older boyfriend.[14] When Tony began to groom Lucy's friend Lauren, the Mirror's Maeve Quigley commented: "It's just a pity really that Tony didn't decide to turn his attentions to Lucy Beale instead – he would be minus a vital piece of his anatomy and his wallet by now."[15]
The 2010 storyline in which Lucy falls pregnant and Ian tries to scare her into having an abortion by showing her a DVD of childbirth borrowed from one of his employees prompted a complaint to Ofcom from the woman featured giving birth in the footage shown, alleging "that her privacy and that of her baby son had been infringed by the broadcast of two EastEnders episodes."[16] After investigation from Ofcom, the complaint was not upheld as the footage was in the public domain as part of a National Childbirth Trust DVD.[16]
See also
References
- ^ Wightman, Catriona (7 March 2010). "Suffield: 'I'm not like Lucy Beale'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- ^ Kilkelly, Daniel (16 February 2010). "'Enders actress thrilled over baby plot". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- ^ Green, Kris (30 May 2010). "'EastEnders' bosses axe "unruly" actress". Digital Spy. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
- ^ Green, Kris (7 June). "'EastEnders' bosses to recast Ben, Lucy". Digital Spy. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Jane vows to take revenge". Digital Spy. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
- ^ McLean, Gareth (24 July 2007). "Watch this". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Dent, Grace (9 April 2005). "Grace Dent's world of lather". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Ross, Ally (10 April 2008). "You're better off dead, to be Frank". The Sun. News International. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Fitton, Caroline (8 January 2005). "Soap Watch". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Simon, Jane (10 May 2007). "Pick of the Day: EastEnders". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Daily Mail reporter (24 July 2008). "Government report: 'Use steamy TV soap scenes to talk to your kids about sex'". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Hogan, Dek (15 October 2007). "School's in but wearing thin". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Green, Kris (21 March 2008). "Digital Spy Soap Awards 2008: The Winners". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Stewart, Tony (7 September 2008). "Is this the most evil man in soap?". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 2009-07-22. [dead link]
- ^ Quigley, Maeve (26 November 2008). "We Love Soaps: Emmerdale & EastEnders". Daily Mirror. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ a b "EastEnders birth footage complaint not upheld". BBC News. BBC. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.