What happened to Lucy Beale in EastEnders? Cindy's daughter explained

This has been more than slightly evident in the big return week for her presumed dead mother Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) who came back to Walford full-time with ex-husband Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt).

Old wounds are reopened, however, particularly for Lucy's half-brother Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell) and twin brother Peter Beale (Thomas Law).

So, what exactly happened to Lucy Beale in EastEnders? Well, RadioTimes.com has you covered...

Who was Lucy Beale in EastEnders?

Lucy Beale was the only daughter of Ian Beale and Cindy Beale.

The oldest of twins, Lucy was the non-identical twin sister of Peter Beale, the half-sister of Cindy's other children - Steven Beale, Cindy Williams Jr., Gina Knight, and Anna Knight, and the half-sister of Ian's son Bobby Beale.

Who played Lucy Beale in EastEnders?

Lucy Beale was portrayed by multiple actresses across her time in EastEnders.

• Eva Brittin-Snell (1993–1996)
• Casey Anne Rothery (1996–2004)
• Melissa Suffield (2004–2010)
• Hetti Bywater (2012-2015)

Brittin-Snell and Rothery portrayed Lucy as a baby and young child, while Suffield took over the role for Lucy's wild and troublesome teenage years.

Finally, Hetti Bywater took over the role when Cindy returned as a young woman in 2012 and would portray her until her death in 2014 and then reprised the role in security footage and flashbacks until 2015.

An uncredited stand-in portrayed a faceless hallucination of Lucy who haunted Bobby Beale from 2019 to 2020.

What happened to Lucy Beale in EastEnders?

Lucy Beale and her twin brother Peter were born in December 1993 to parents Ian and Cindy Beale.

The pair, along with their half-brother Steven Beale, would spend the next few years being fought over by their parents as their marriage fell apart amidst Ian's business woes and Cindy's various affairs.

In 1996, Cindy hired a hitman to kill Ian and later tried to call it off but it was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. Following this, Cindy fled the country with Peter and Steven but as Lucy was unwell at the time, Cindy was forced to leave her behind.

In 1997, Ian had a private investigator Ros Thorne track Cindy to Italy where he and the Mitchell Brothers snatched back Lucy's brothers and returned to Walford. Cindy later returned to Walford with her new boyfriend Nick Holland and fought Ian for custody of the children, winning the case.

However, in a further twist, Cindy was arrested for conspiring to murder Ian and was sent down for her crimes while pregnant with Nick's child. Holland abandoned Cindy to prison, and later that year she died off-screen after giving birth to a daughter that Ian named Cindy Jr., who went on to be raised by Cindy's sister Gina Williams.

In 1999, Ian lied to his partner Mel Healy (Tamzin Outhwaite) that Lucy was dying of cancer in a bid to trap her into a marriage with him. On their New Year's Eve wedding day, Mel discovered the truth and dumped him.

After this, Lucy would go on to welcome a stepmother in the form of Laura Dunn (Hannah Waterman), whom Ian conceived son Bobby Beale with but later split from and died in an accidental fall.

Lucy and Peter were slow to grow close to their dad's later partner Jane Collins (Laurie Brett) but soon did and she eventually married Ian.

During her teenage years, Lucy grew incredibly rebellious and Ian began to see much of her scheming mother in her.

Lucy's bad behaviour grew dangerous when she fell in with Ian's chip shop employee Craig Dixon (Rory Jennings), who was five years older than her. Craig was responsible for assaulting the Beales' neighbour Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) and only after Lucy had run away with Craig and he pressured her to have sex with him did she return to Walford and cause his arrest. After this, however, Lucy kept a gun that he had been in possession of.

In 2007, Lucy and the Beales began receiving creepy messages from "Cindy" as it appeared someone was tormenting Ian. This was later revealed to be Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell), who had been living in New Zealand with his biological father Simon Wicks for years but now wanted revenge for Cindy's death which he blamed on Ian. After tracking down the tormentor to a block of flats, Steven imprisoned Ian.

While Ian remained missing, Steven returned to Walford and moved in with Ian's wife Jane and his half-siblings Lucy and Peter, bonding with them over their supposedly dead mother. However, eventually, the Beales discovered the truth and found Ian but a scuffle with Craig's gun saw it go off and shoot Jane, leaving her unable to have biological children of her own.

In the aftermath, Steven was sent to a mental institution to receive therapy but eventually returned to Jane's ire. At this time, Steven appeared to be trying to make amends but Lucy grew frustrated and more rebellious, throwing a wild party at the Beale house which saw it trashed. A furious Ian hit Lucy after she clashed with him, prompting her to run away.

Lucy remained missing for weeks as Ian blamed himself for her disappearance, but it was later revealed that Steven was helping to house her away from Walford in a caravan and encouraged her to stay away. When his grandmother Pat Evans (Pam St. Clement) discovered the truth, Steven attempted to smother her to death in hospital. In a final chase, Steven attempted to flee with Lucy out of the country but Ian found them and managed to persuade her to come home. Ian then exiled Steven from Walford.

After this, Lucy goes to live with her step-uncle Christian Clarke (John Partridge) for a time and then goes on to lose her virginity in a romance with Olly Greenwood (Bart Edwards). Lucy's wild streak continued as she slept with local teen Leon Small (Sam Attwater) and became pregnant. For a time she planned to keep the pregnancy to provide Jane with a baby, but Ian persuaded her to have an abortion and lie that she miscarried.

After a scandal involving cheating in her GCSE exams following stellar grades, Lucy went to live with her maternal grandmother Bev Williams in Devon in 2010.

In 2012 for Pat's funeral, a more responsible and business-minded Lucy returned to Walford and immediately clashed with Ian's new partner, Mandy Salter (Nicola Stephenson), attempting to poison Ian and Bobby against her.

Eventually, Ian and Mandy's romance fell apart ahead of their planned wedding and Ian had a breakdown amid financial woes and he went missing, prompting Lucy to step in and run the Beale business empire in his absence. Lucy even renamed the cafe "Cindy's" in his absence.

Ian was later found on the streets and returned to Walford and made a slow recovery, eventually seeing Lucy let him back into her life and his businesses.

Over the years, Lucy clashed with best friend Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) and her friend Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) over men, first over Tyler Moon (Tony Discipline) and then more prominently over Lucy's boyfriend Joey Branning (David Witts).

As Ian took back more control of his businesses and her romance with Joey fell apart over his love for a struggling Lauren, Lucy began working for Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) and began a romance and rivalry with Danny Pennant (Gary Lucy) which ended when she learned he had kissed Johnny Carter (Sam Strike).

In the final months of her life, Lucy set up a lettings agency with Lauren and also began to pursue a romance with new arrival Lee Carter (Danny-Boy Hatchard). However, Lucy had also developed a cocaine dependence and was having an illicit affair with Lauren's father, Max Branning (Jake Wood).

Lucy's jealous half-sister Cindy Williams Jr. (Mimi Keene) would go on to expose Lucy's cocaine habit to Ian who confronted his daughter about it and expressed his love for her but also impossible standards of expectations too - which were overheard by an upset Peter.

In response, an angry and upset Lucy fled into the night.

The next day, Lucy's dead body was found on Walford Common and a devastated Beale family were informed of her death, which was later investigated as murder.

Who killed Lucy Beale in EastEnders?

Lucy Beale was killed by her half-brother Bobby Beale.

In a storyline that gripped the nation, the whodunnit 'Who Killed Lucy Beale?' from 2014 to 2015 saw most residents of Albert Square become potential suspects in the mysterious murder of Lucy, whose body was found on Walford Common by passersby.

The list of prime suspects publicised by the soap included the following:

• Ian Beale
• Jane Beale
• Peter Beale
• Cindy Williams, Jr.
• Max Branning
• Lauren Branning
• Abi Branning
• Jay Brown
• Les Coker
• Pam Coker
• Whitney Dean
• Denise Fox
• Ben Mitchell
• Lee Carter

However, it was clear that the only character who was absent from the Square at the time - as she was incarcerated - was Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner).

In 2015, Ian discovered that his wife Jane Beale was involved in Lucy's death and she soon confessed the truth - that she had moved Lucy's body, and the real culprit was Lucy's child half-brother Bobby.

A flashback episode explored the final day in Lucy's life as she had a series of confrontations with loved ones and enemies before finally returning home.

Jane then returned to the house at Bobby's request and found Lucy's dead body. A panicked Bobby appeared and admitted that he had hit her over the head with her jewellery box in anger but didn't mean to kill her.

In the aftermath of the confession, the Beale family - including Peter and Cindy Williams, Jr. - agreed to keep Bobby and Jane's secret. However, this eventually led to Peter and Cindy Jr. leaving Walford.

In 2015, Lucy's former lover Max Branning was wrongfully arrested and sentenced for killing Lucy and was only released once the truth came out the following year.

In 2016, Bobby realised that he did kill Lucy and his anger issues spiralled and he attacked Jane, leaving her wheelchair-bound before he confessed and was arrested. Bobby was later found guilty of killing Lucy and sentenced to a young offenders institute, being released in 2019.

Read more:

• EastEnders' epic Cindy Beale return week was a true gift from the soap gods
• EastEnders icon teases return of Cindy Beale's "bad" side in love triangle
• EastEnders airs shock Cindy Beale flashback to Marbella, Lucy’s 2014 murder
• EastEnders’ Ricky Norwood reacts to epic Fatboy return: “Absolutely thrilled”
• EastEnders fans delighted by “genius” return in early iPlayer release
• EastEnders’ Cindy Beale brawls with Kathy who brands her “manipulative b***h”
• Michelle Collins almost played another iconic EastEnders character
• EastEnders trailers for Cindy return tease Kathy showdown: "You're dead!"
• EastEnders' Shona McGarty quits role as Whitney Dean after 15 years
• EastEnders' Gillian Taylforth teases Kathy and Rocky future after Jo's threats
• EastEnders is nowhere near the axe – it's having a renaissance
• EastEnders' Gillian Taylforth supports comeback for Kathy’s Hills family
• EastEnders boss Chris Clenshaw promises “big” Christmas for the Beales
• EastEnders' Michelle Collins teases Cindy’s scenes with love rival Elaine
• Will Jacqueline Jossa return full-time to EastEnders as Lauren Branning?
• EastEnders' Michelle Collins confirms flashbacks and Cindy Beale breakdown
• EastEnders must give tragic heroine Whitney the happy ever after she deserves
• EastEnders legend Angela Wynter explains Yolande Trueman return

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer. Visit our dedicated EastEnders page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.

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