(née '''Harris'''; formerly '''Beale''', '''Wicks''', '''Butcher''') is a
Fictional Character in the popular
BBC Soap Opera ''
EastEnders ''. She has been played by
Pam St. Clement since
1986 , a year after the show first aired.
Pat has been married four times, making her the most-married character in the whole of ''
EastEnders ''. Her first marriage, to
Pete Beale , ended in divorce. The two had married young, and Pat had slept with Pete's brother, Kenny. Two sons,
David and
Simon were born during this first marriage, but their parentage is uncertain. Pat later claimed that the biological father of the two boys was Brian Wicks, who became her second husband. Brian regularly beat Pat, who then managed to escape and move to
Walford , where he has also appeared. This second marriage also ended in divorce. Her third marriage was to
Frank Butcher , the sweetheart who she fell in love with at the age of eighteen, after they had a fling at a
British Seaside resort. Unfortunately, the affair only lasted as long as the holiday, because Frank was due to go home and wed his pregnant fiancée. However, they met each other again years later and married, running various businesses. Frank left after he went bankrupt, leaving Pat in debt. After Pat married Roy and Frank married Peggy, they began another affair and planned to run off together, but Peggy discovered the truth and slapped them both in front of a packed pub. Frank left alone. Her fourth husband was
Roy Evans , who she cheated on with her ex-husband, Frank. He forgave her adultery, but died of a heart attack in
2003 ). In 2006, she had a brief affair with married man
Patrick Trueman .
Pat has had a turbulent life in (Pete's best friend), whom she confessed to having a fling with shortly after she and Pete split up. Pat later admitted to Den that there was no way that Den could be Simon's father, and Kenny was revealed as the father after paternity tests.
After divorcing Brian, she and her original love, Frank Butcher, found each other and married. They originally had a short fling whilst on holiday when they were in their teens, but Frank had a pregnant fiancée, June, who he planned to marry, but he remained Pat's true love. June was now dead, and she and Frank married. They ran businesses such as Abercorne Bed and Breakfast,
The Queen Victoria pub and the car lot. After Frank fell into debt, he had the car lot torched so he could claim money. This causeed more problems after a tramp was accidently killed in the blaze. Frank went bankrupt and fled, leaving Pat with his huge bills and four teenage kids. Pat raised them as her own. She met Roy Evans, and they married, despite Frank's return.
During these years, Pat would form an unlikely friendship with Pete's second wife
Kathy Beale . Kathy and Pat had initially been at each others throats when Pat first turned up in Walford, but Kathy's rape and the death of Lou Beale pushed them together as friends (as both found they had a common bond, with the dominance of Lou in their lives). Pat and Kathy would eventually become each other's closest friend and confidante over the years, despite the ominous presence of
Cindy Beale (who had affairs with both Simon and David whilist married to Kathy's son Ian).
In
2000 ,
Terry and
Irene Raymond , Roy and Pat, and Frank and Peggy all went on holiday to Spain. There, Frank (now married to Peggy Mitchell) and Pat rekindled the passion and began a secret affair. This continued when they went back home, and the pair decided to leave together. Frank left Peggy a letter, but she read it before they had gone, and in The Vic she made an announcement on
Bonfire Night that they had been sleeping together, before slapping them both. It ended in tears and Frank left Walford alone, while Pat repaired her marriage to Roy.
In
2003 , Roy suffered a heart attack and died, much to the dismay of his son,
Barry Evans , in denial after his wife
Natalie left him for Frank's son,
Ricky Butcher , the same week as Roy's death. After Barry discovered that Roy had left everything in his will to him, and in revenge for her adultery and keeping Natalie's affair a secret from Barry, he threw Pat out of the house, and she ended up living in a grotty
Bedsit with hardly any money. Frank's bitchy daughter,
Janine , married Barry, despite continuing an affair with Paul Trueman, who both planned to con Barry out of all of his money and possessions. The day after the wedding, Janine confessed everything to her new husband, and pushed him down a cliff. She even bragged about it to a disgusted Pat. She played the victim and the grieving widow, now in control of the former Evans family house and business. Paulm by this point, had realised that Janine had murdered Barry, and dumped her. Janine started to bully Laura,
Ian 's estranged wife; she lived in the bedsit above Pat, they had become friends, and Pat often baby-sitted Laura's son, Bobby. Pat and Laura were in a similar situation, but Janine and Laura's long-term feud had resurfaced, leading to deadly consequences. After several public fights, Janine was seen heading to Laura's flat in anger. They scrapped, but Janine left, and soon after Laura fell down the stairs and died. Her body was found by Pat. Janine was arrested on suspicion of murder, and Pat was her only alibi (she had seen Janine leave the flat before Laura's death); despite Janine's begs and pleads, Pat told the
Police that she hadn't seen Janine leave the house. Pat wanted revenge for Barry's killing. Janine was sent to
Prison for murder.
Pat gained a job at the bookies, under the thumb of
Andy Hunter , who now owned Pat's former home. In 2004, Pat got into a spot of bother when
Den Watts talked her into stamping a blank betting slip that he was going to complete with the name of a winning horse after the end of a race. Andy found out about it and foiled the plot; however, he did keep Pat on at the bookies after she promised never to do it again. When Andy died, Pat was stunned that he had left her his house in his will.
In 2005
Billy Mitchell was staying as a lodger with Pat and she got drawn into a feud between
Johnny Allen and
Peggy Mitchell , after Peggy arrived back in
The Square , homeless, and Pat allowed her to stay. Initially Peggy couldn't accept that Pat owned the house that had previously belonged to
Phil Mitchell , and started to suggest some 'improvements' that could be made to the decor in the living room that were firmly resisted, including getting rid of the cocktail bar and changing the pictures on the walls. When
Ruby Allen moved out of her home because she could no longer stand her father's behaviour, Peggy suggested that she could stay at Pat's house. Then
Grant Mitchell , who had been living in
Rio for six years, and Phil Mitchell, who had been in jail, arrived back in the Square and also moved in with Pat. After a number of confrontations between Johnny and Peggy, the situation was resolved when Ruby was reconciled with her father and moved back home, and subsequently the Mitchells got back the ownership of the
The Vic and moved in there.
Pat was summoned to be a witness for the prosecution at Janine's trial in December 2005, where she once again met Frank who had returned after almost five years. After talking to Laura's mother
Edwina , Pat decided to change her testimony and let Janine go free.
In
January 2006 , Pat's former great nephew,
Deano Wicks , turned up on her doorstep and now lives with her. He was closely followed by his dad
Kevin and sister
Carly . Pat had a short fling with
Patrick Trueman , which was discovered by his wife
Yolande on
Pauline and
Joe's wedding day.
