was a
Fictional Character in the popular
BBC Soap Opera ''
EastEnders ''. He was played by
Paul Nicholls .
Joe arrived in
Albert Square from
Bolton in 1996, looking for his father,
David Wicks , following the death of his sister Karen.
At first, David rejected the idea of having his son back in his life, and sent him back. However, after Joe ran away again and turned up at David's he became more receptive to Joe and having him in his life again. Eventually Joe and his mother
Lorraine moved down to London from
Bolton and Joe moved in with David. Things went OK for a little while but Karen's death had seriously affected Joe. Joe blamed himself for Karen's death because the day that Karen died they had had an argument over who would sit in the front seat in the car. Joe won and Karen was sitting in the back when a lorry crashed into the car. Karen was horrifically injured and died whilst Joe walked away with little more than bruises. This lead to Joe developing
Schizophrenia and exhibiting increasingly weird behaviour. Whilst suffering with schizophrenia, Joe attempted
Suicide , at one point hid
Nellie Ellis 's dead cat Mandoo in a box in his bedroom and shocked his father David when he covered up his room with old newspaper articles relating to
Aliens .
While in
Walford , Joe got engaged to
Sarah Hills , but had a one night stand with
Mary Flaherty and realised he was too young to get married, so called off the engagement.
He left along with mother Lorraine to return to Bolton in
1997 and reportedly reconciled with Sarah many years later.
