"Who Killed Lucy Beale?" is a storyline from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It was announced on 21 February 2014, and began on 18 April 2014, when Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) was discovered dead on Walford Common from a deliberately inflicted head injury. The storyline reached a peak during EastEnders Live Week on 19 February 2015, the show's 30th anniversary episode, during which Lucy's 10-year-old half-brother, Bobby Beale (Eliot Carrington) is revealed to have killed her following a confrontation at home. Bobby's adoptive mother and Lucy's stepmother, Jane Beale (Laurie Brett), had covered for him, moving Lucy's body to Walford Common and convincing Bobby that he was not responsible for his sister's death.
The storyline was revived in July 2015, where it showed how the Beales coped with covering the secret and many locals being wrongfully arrested for committing the crime. The storyline reached another peak in December 2015, when Bobby discovers the truth. The storyline was revisited again in May 2016, when Bobby brutally attacks Jane, and reveals in a busy pub that he killed Lucy and attacked Jane. However, Jane survives the attack – although facing potential paralysis – and Bobby is arrested; he is later charged for Lucy's murder. The storyline culminated in the 16 June 2016 episode when Bobby is sentenced to three years custody in a young offenders institution for killing Lucy and causing grievous bodily harm upon Jane.
During the storyline, Max Branning (Jake Wood) was initially found guilty of Lucy's murder and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. After Bobby is jailed for Lucy's murder, the story can be seen as the catalyst for 2017's central storyline, which saw Max seeking revenge on the community, particularly Sharon's husband Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Lucy's father Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), for allowing him to go to prison for Lucy's murder.
The storyline is revisited again in June 2019 when Bobby is released from the young offenders institution, and in 2021, when Bobby explores what it is to pursue a relationship after his criminal history and the tabloid headlines which surrounded the murder.
In August 2023, the storyline is returned to once again when Lucy's mother, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), is seen secretly returning to Walford in a flashback to the night Lucy died. Cindy had been in witness protection since 1998 and presumed dead, only returning upon hearing the news of Lucy's death. Her return to Walford risked blowing her cover and she subsequently had to abandon her new family in Marbella as well as leaving her family in Walford. Cindy's new family, including ex-husband George Knight (Colin Salmon), later moved to Walford, prompting her full-time return.
Cindy subsequently struggled to accept living with Lucy’s murderer, Bobby, causing tension between her and Ian. The story continues into July 2024 when Jane Beale returns. Cindy blames Jane for covering up Lucy’s murder, while Jane explains that she was only trying to protect her adoptive son, Bobby, as Cindy’s son Steven (Aaron Sidwell) had shot Jane in 2007, making her unable to have any biological children of her own.
Storyline creation and development
The murder story was in the style of a "whodunit" mystery. Only four members of the show's production team knew who was responsible for Lucy's death. The marketing campaign for the storyline was EastEnders biggest yet; the first specially created trailer aired immediately after the murder. The identity of Lucy's killer was shown in a special live episode marking the 30th anniversary of EastEnders in February 2015. The story, which began on Good Friday 2014, is described by executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins as being "emotionally right, true and very exciting" and that, after initially deciding on a killer, they came up with an alternative killer early in the planning stages as their initial choice "didn't come from the heart".
In December 2014, it was stated that the list of suspects would be cut down to just 11, although 14 suspects were later revealed on-screen. On 5 January 2015, it was confirmed that the murderer would be revealed in a live flashback episode to mark the anniversary week.
Later development
Lucy's younger half brother Bobby Beale was revealed to be the killer on 19 February 2015, in a special flashback episode. Treadwell-Collins mentioned that the killer reveal would be different to the show's predecessing whodunit, "Who Killed Archie?". "With Archie, it was a one-line reveal, but with this one it's more complicated: there are a few conversations." Following the reveal, the executive producer said that the storyline is the "start of a bigger story". He also mentioned that the original killer was Jane Beale and then Cindy Williams, but stated his reason for the change: "There was one other suspect for about a day, but then it didn't feel right. We always said that this story had to come from the heart, and with this, it's the start of a whole big new story for the Beales." Bobby being the culprit was originally suggested by series producer Alex Lamb. On Twitter, Dominic Treadwell-Collins announced that drop-ins were filmed to accompany the recent killer reveal during live week. These scenes aired from 23 to 24 February.
Suspects and motives For a major part of the storyline, the premise was that every character on the show (except for Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner), who was in prison at the time) could be a suspect. Following the episode that aired on 1 January 2015, the number of official suspects was whittled down to a list of fourteen, when character Emma Summerhayes (Anna Acton) sent a text message to the person she believed was the killer, with the fourteen characters all being on screen when the message reached its unspecified recipient's phone. By the end of January, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) no longer appeared as a suspect in promotional material ahead of the anniversary episode, bringing the list of suspects down to thirteen. On 20 February 2015, it was revealed that Emma had sent the text message to Jane Beale (Laurie Brett), who was in fact covering for her adoptive son, Bobby Beale (Eliott Carrington). Ian Beale, played by Adam Woodyatt. In the days leading up to Lucy's death, Ian was troubled by his daughter's behaviour and Cindy, jealous of Ian favouring Lucy over herself, revealed that Lucy had a secret stash of cocaine hidden in her jewellery box. After a heated argument, Ian told Lucy that she was his favourite child as Peter overheard, running off as Lucy chased after him. Ian stated in his alibi that he was at the restaurant the night she died, but Cindy mentioned that she went there to look for him and he was not there. He was in fact with Rainie Cross, a prostitute. Jane Beale, played by Laurie Brett. Jane had been staying at her friend Masood's house over Easter. She claimed not to have left the house, but provided Lauren with an alibi after claiming that she had seen Lauren approach the Beale house and then leave moments later without entering. Peter Beale, played by Ben Hardy. On the night of Lucy's death, Peter overheard his father Ian tell Lucy that she was his favourite child. He ran out, stating in his alibi that he needed some time alone. Prior to the murder, it was revealed that Lucy had been taking cocaine. Jane reads out the texts on Lucy's phone including an unsent message to Peter on the night of her death asking for drugs. He later confesses to being her drug dealer, making sure he can control her addiction. Abi Branning, played by Lorna Fitzgerald. Max received an anonymous email of a picture of him kissing Lucy, which was later revealed to have been sent by Abi. She was very unstable during her police interview, and stated in her alibi that she was at home with her father Max all night, but was left alone briefly when Max went out to walk the dog. On Halloween 2014, Abi stalked her sister Lauren wearing a Weeping Angel mask when she became uncomfortable with Lauren dismissing her problems in favour of her own. During a heated confrontation, Abi tries to drown Lauren. She later denies killing Lucy, but admits that she wishes that she had. Max Branning, played by Jake Wood. Prior to Good Friday, it was revealed that Max had been having an affair with Lucy. A few days before her death, the pair had a heated argument, resulting in Lucy falling and hitting her head and he later grabbed her aggressively. Both incidents were captured on CCTV footage and reviewed by David. David originally blamed Max for the murder, but after the two talk, David decides to keep quiet about the incidents and the laptop containing the evidence is destroyed. Max stated in his alibi that he was at home all night except for when he left for five minutes to walk the dog, which was later confirmed by an anxious Abi, after her maternal grandmother, Cora, called the police after noticing Max and Abi cleaning up Lucy's blood from the car lot. Jay Brown, played by Jamie Borthwick. Although no given motive has presented itself, CCTV footage revealed that Jay was on the same bus as Lucy the night that she was murdered, and was shown to have followed her after she got off. He burned the hat that he was wearing in the footage, and later buried Lucy's purse and phone. Lee Carter, played by Danny Hatchard. Lee had a fling with Lucy in the days running up to her death, upsetting love rival Whitney. In his alibi, Lee stated that he was at the housewarming party at the time of the death. Before the party he had seen Billy in a heated argument with Lucy. Les Coker, played by Roger Sloman. In Les' alibi, he states that he was watching "a Marlon Brando classic". Les runs a funeral business, and was heavily involved in faking the death of Nick Cotton before he was questioned by the police. Pam Coker, played by Lin Blakley. On the anniversary of her son's death, she became worried when Emma asked her questions surrounding Lucy's death. She later revealed to Billy that she had killed someone. Whitney Dean, played by Shona McGarty. Whitney developed feelings for Lee, but on the day of Lucy's death, discovered that the two had sex. Whitney and Lucy were also involved in cyberbullying conflicts on a social networking site in which Lucy supposedly made remarks about Whitney's weight. At Lucy's funeral, Whitney leaves a message saying "Rot in Hell" which is found by Tamwar. Whitney asked Lauren for the password to Lucy's profile, telling her that she wanted to delete the hate off of Lucy's profile, though deleted all of the messages, including ones that Whitney and Lucy shared. Later, DI Keeble notices suspicious activity which arose on Lauren's laptop in the run-up to Lucy's death, referring to the deletion of a conversation that happened between Whitney and Lucy. Denise Fox, played by Diane Parish. On the day of Lucy's death, Denise revealed to her daughter Libby that she was planning on leaving Ian, sick of him favouring his own family over hers. However, after learning about Lucy's death, she chose to stay with him, though eventually left him after learning of his involvement with Rainie. A few months later, she dug up Lucy's purse and phone in Patrick's allotments. She was initially hesitant about turning them over to Ian, but did after being urged to by Masood. Ben Mitchell, played by Harry Reid. Ben is Lucy's uncle. He returned to the square five months after Lucy's death and thus had not been questioned by the police. For unknown reasons, Ben possessed Lucy's missing phone and purse, and ordered Jay to dispose of them. When Denise accidentally dug them up, Ben claimed to Ian that he had found them on Good Friday, and then disposed of them after learning of Lucy's death.