Forgive me if I'm wrong but I can't remember kathy being a big big character.

I'm sure if you asked people to name as many characters as they could then kathy wouldnt even come close to the top.

She's not as iconic as Phil, Grant, Peggy,Pat,Frank, Den,Sharon and Dot.
Last edited by mintbro : 12-09-2015 at 11:58

I'd say she was one of the bigger characters of the 80's and 90's. Willmott-Brown, Donna, Pete Beale, Kathy's Caff, marriage to Phil and being a member of the Beale/Fowlers, particularly Ian Beale's mum, were pretty big things to be involved in. Kathy had actually appeared in more episodes than any other character by the time she left the main cast in 1998.

She's the mother of one of the show's longest serving character
She had a horrible off screen life which was then explored further with the arrival of her long lost daughter.
She was then raped which was a big thing for a soap to explore at that time
Had strong friendships with the likes of Angie and Pat
She was the owner of the cafe, one of the show's most recogniseable sets and long after she was not running it, the cafe maintained her name
She had a massive storyline with her relationship with Phil. Along with Sharon, she is one of Phil's most memorable exes.

I would say she was a big character in the show's early days. She was EE's original tragic heroine. Way before Tiffany, Kat, Stacey, Ronnie and currently Shabnam.

I'd say she was one of the biggest characters. She took a bit of a backseat the first few months to Angie and Den, Pauline being pregnant, baby Hassan's death but the Nick blackmailing her and reveal that she'd been raped and had a baby at 14 was a very big storyline and firmly established her as a major player. The Willmott-!rown storyline was then also huge and they took the opportunity to marry her into the 'new' wave of EE and next big family of the Mitchell's as soon as the Beales started taking a bit of a back seat.

Iconic? Maybe not, partly lbecause she didn't have a recogniseable 'image' in the way that Dot or Pat do (the ever present fag, odd way of speaking or ear rings) but I'd say she was probably the most important female in the cast for several years, from Angie leaving really - certainly of the middle aged characters. I'd say she was more of a leading character than Pat in the late 80s, despite Pat being in the Vic.

Just read the other posts and agree, especially with Little Monster's statement that she was the original 'tragic heroine'. She was that, but she managed to be that and stay strong and mostly kind and not embittered or screwed up.

f***ing noobs

go watch the early eps on youtube and see for yourself

As you will have seen on here already, there would appear to be a serious lapse in your memory of EastEnders' older storylines!

To those of us who have been with it from the beginning, the likes of Pat, Frank and Peggy are very much latter day substitutes for the real heroes of the piece in its early days. I can still recall my thoughts when Barbara Windsor first took on the role of Peggy Mitchell ... it was, er.. why on earth are they bringing in that irritatingly giggly blonde bimbo from the Carry On films? Nowadays she's still irritatingly giggly with her 'blue balls' double entendre!

I wonder what people joining the series for the first time make of it all?

Kathy was very much big back in the day. She is back to shake up the Mitchell and Beale clans.

I think it depends on how old you are. For those of us who were around right at the beginning she was huge, though I didn't like her. For those who weren't and never saw her she probably wasn't.

Impolite yet accurate

That's exactly it.

I was on the point of giving up watching after so many departures and the show seeming to run out of steam and Kathy being raped by wilmott-Brown ignited my reinterest. Fantastic, huge, very prominent story which was forefront for months, arguably years.

The whole Donna thing was brilliant too, from the first scene of Nick reading her notes to Donna turning up, concealing her identity to her descent into drug addiction, death and Kathy's reaction to it.

Kathy was one of THE leading lights of the early years, and as i said earlier, the fact they took great pains to integrate her into the major family of the 1990s shows just how important TPTB considered her.

This exactly thread is just so bad.

Kathy also had a part to play in 'sharongate' It was at her and Phil's engagement party that the whole reveal happened, and it altered forever her friendship with Sharon and even her relationship with Michelle was never the same as Michelle supported Sharon totally during the aftermath even though it was Sharon who tried to start up the affair with Phil again knowing he was about to become engaged to Kathy.

I think this was Kathy's final break from the Beale/Fowler family - she chose to believe Phil's version that Sharon made all the running right from the start when it wasn't quite like that in the beginning of the affair, married Phil anyway and found she had left one family controlled by Lou and then Pauline only to land in another controlled by Peggy!

Of a certain era yes 80s/90s

Over the years as the cast got bigger there were of course less main storylines for each one but in the beginning she was one of the main cast and was a big character.

I can't believe there are people questioning this.

You only have to look at the way they handled her original exit - a one hour special which started with a dream sequence and ended with her own version of Julia's Theme.

She was / is a very important character for the reasons listed in the above posts. I'll never forget Willmott-Brown! She is directly linked to Ian Beale and Phil Mitchell who are huge characters. So to answer your question yes she's a big character.

She's a legend but there are probably many people who don't know her because she was absent for 15 years and there have been lots of new viewers since she left. Kathy is linked to 3 iconic characters - Ian, Phil and Sharon.

She was average size I reckon.

That's not even English!

Sick of people dashing off posts without reading them through and spell checking where appropriate.

I'm sick of the grammar/spelling police on this forum. We're not all perfect.

Apart from me of course

Especially not you

She was a fave character of the producer that's why she has been reserected

Bit harsh Andy