Mark Fowler is a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Mark, an original regular character when the series started in February 1985, became a semi-regular after his original actor David Scarboro was written out of the role in April 1985. Scarboro made brief returns to the role in 1986 and 1987. Scarboro died in April 1988 and subsequently Mark was recast two years later on his return, with former Grange Hill regular Todd Carty taking on the role. From this point the character was a permanent fixture in the series and Carty remained in the role until the character was written out of the series in early 2003.
The character was originated as a member of the established Beale/Fowler family; he is the elder son of Arthur (Bill Treacher) and Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), and thus the older brother of Michelle (Susan Tully/Jenna Russell) and Martin (Jon Peyton-Price/James Alexandrou/James Bye). Initially a delinquent teenager from his early stint on the show, Mark was a changed man upon returning to Albert Square as a 22-year-old in 1990. Following his return, Mark became one of the programme's central characters and went on to feature in some of EastEnders''' most significant and high-profile storylines. One such storyline saw Mark announce that he had received a diagnosis of HIV, which forced him to grow up fast and accept his responsibilities. He frequently found it difficult to accept the restrictions of the illness, which ultimately led to his death in April 2004.
Mark married thrice, to Gill Fowler (Susanna Dawson), who had also contracted HIV and died on the day after their wedding; Ruth Fowler (Caroline Paterson), which ended in adultery; and Lisa Shaw (Lucy Benjamin). His other prominent storylines involved feuds with his archnemesis Nick Cotton (John Altman) and love rival Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), an unlikely friendship with Phil's aggressive brother Grant (Ross Kemp), a much-friendlier relationship with Nick's beloved mother Dot (June Brown), a close companionship with Michelle's best friend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), helping his family keep secret that Sharon's adopted father Den (Leslie Grantham) is the father of Michelle's baby Vicki (Emma Herry/Samantha Leigh Martin/Scarlett Alice Johnson), becoming a suspect in the Who Shot Phil? enquiries, coping with the death of his father Arthur, and managing to reconcile with his mother Pauline in light of overcoming a number of major family problems.
Creation and development Introduction (1985) Mark Fowler was one of the original 23 characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Mark was a member of the first family of EastEnders, the Beales and Fowlers, and Holland took the inspiration for some of the series' earliest characters from his own London family and background. Mark's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.
Several young actors were seen and read for the part of Mark (including Gary Hailes, who would later play the gay barrow boy, Barry Clark). On paper, David Scarboro was the least likely to get the job as he was relatively inexperienced, having previously appeared in only a little-known made-for-television film and Grange Hill. His reading was not a huge success, as he mumbled most of his lines. However, Holland and Smith were taken with his appearance, particularly his "piercing eyes", which reminded them of James Dean. They felt that he would be "dynamite on-screen", and his likeness to their vision of the character was uncanny, so they offered him the role.
Mark was originally scripted to be a wayward delinquent and was due to feature heavily within the first year of the series. However, as soon as the regular gruelling schedule of EastEnders production established itself, it became clear that Scarboro was not happy in the role. The stress of the heavy workload and the sudden fame that came to all the actors became difficult for him to cope with. He became unhappy with the schedule and his scripts and refused to play Mark as a racist as was intended. Holland and Smith decided to write the character out of the show to allow the actor to come to terms with the situation better. On-screen, Mark was being implicated in the murder of Reg Cox (Johnnie Clayton) and was being tempted into heroin by Nick Cotton (John Altman).
Initial departure and brief returns Fearing Nick Cotton and the police, Mark ran away from home in April 1985. As this had not been the original plan for the character, it meant a hectic period of re-writing early in 1985. The first 50+ scripts were reworked to accommodate this major change. Many of the stories intended for Mark were subsequently given to Kelvin Carpenter (Paul J. Medford), Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) and Mark's sister Michelle (Susan Tully) – which partially explains why her character became so prominent in the first year. It still left a gap, though, because several of Mark's functions in the serial, as slightly the eldest of the youngsters, could not have been taken over by the others. A new character needed to be introduced to restore the balance to its original shape, which is why the character of Simon Wicks (Nick Berry) was introduced later in 1985. This meant introducing the audience to a character and a story approximately a year before it had been originally intended – "Wicksy" had originally been scheduled to join the series around the same time as his mother, Pat, who arrived in June 1986. Scarboro returned to the show briefly in December 1985 in a storyline that saw Mark's parents, Pauline (Wendy Richard) and Arthur (Bill Treacher), search for him in Southend. The storyline's intention was to help highlight the problems some parents face when their teenage children disappear from home. He returned again for brief stints in 1986 and 1987. His final appearance as Mark was on Christmas Day 1987.
Return and recast (1990)
Scarboro was never to make a return due to his suicide in April 1988. However, BBC bosses decided not to kill off the character, and later set out to find a new actor to reprise the role. Subsequently, the role was recast in 1990 to actor Todd Carty, renowned for his role as Tucker Jenkins in Grange Hill. At this time, Mark returned to the series as a permanent character. Carty later reported that he enjoyed playing Mark because it gave him "good dramatic stuff to get his teeth into." The most notable storyline involving Mark after his return to Albert Square was the revelation that he had contracted HIV. Mark discovered he was HIV positive in 1991, and informed his family of this on Boxing Day that year. There then followed a traumatic journey as he struggled first to come to terms with the news, then track down his previous partners to inform them that he was infected with the virus. The problems didn't end there, however, as Mark then had to battle with the fear and ignorance of those living around him – including his parents. Many of Albert Square's residents initially rejected him when they found out that he was HIV positive. Mark married one of his ex-partners Gill (Susanna Dawson), who had also been infected with the virus but in her case it had progressed to AIDS, and she subsequently died the day after the wedding in 1992.
The episode in which Gill died (written by Debbie Cook and directed by Leonard Lewis) has been chosen by writer Colin Brake as one of the most memorable episodes of 1992. In his book, EastEnders: The First Ten Years, Blake comments, "Although in many ways the episode was sad and downbeat it was not without its positive aspects, as Mark talked to his sister about his own mortality." Susanna Dawson, the actress who played Gill, found the experience of playing a person living with, and dying from, AIDS so intense that she co-produced an educational video based on the subject for use in schools and wrote a book, The Gill and Mark Story, to accompany it.
HIV/AIDS Mark became the first mainstream soap character to receive a diagnosis of HIV-positive. The storyline came after a government request to "spread the word"."Policy makers stake a claim to TV soapbox", Scotsman. URL last accessed on 2006-10-16. Mark lived with the condition for 13 years before dying of an AIDS-related illness. The Terrence Higgins Trust worked with the production team for the duration of Mark's story."Which issues have been highlighted by EastEnders? ", BBC. URL last accessed on 2006-10-16. Despite all the public health campaigns concerning HIV transmission, the biggest peak in requests for testing in Britain was seen in January 1991 when Mark Fowler was diagnosed HIV-positive."", Telegraph. URL last accessed on 2006-10-16. Carty has commented: "I feel that the storyline educated people at a time when there were lots of misconceptions about HIV and AIDS…My main concern was that they'd get it right and, overall, I think they did – because it showed someone living with HIV, as opposed to dying of it.""TODD CARTY", The Mirror. URL last accessed on 11 November 2007."Carty's 30 years on TV ", BBC. URL last accessed on 11 November 2007.
The storyline was widely applauded for the way it handled the plot and the following issues that the scriptwriters explored, from anti-retroviral drugs, safe sex and prejudice. The storyline was so successful in raising awareness that a 1999 survey by the National AIDS Trust found teenagers garnered most of their information about HIV from the soap."How well does TV and film tackle disease? ", Aegis. URL last accessed on 2006-10-16.
The character of Mark remained in the show for 13 years after his re-introduction, and featured in an array of storylines including two failed marriages, which were scripted to highlight the difficulties that can occur in a relationship when one partner has HIV and the other does not. Ultimately, Mark overcame the stigma and he enjoyed several years of happy, healthy living before finally succumbing to an AIDS-related illness and dying in April 2004 off-screen. EastEnders executive producer Louise Berridge said Carty had made a "fantastic contribution" to the soap and Mark has been a "pivotal figure" on Albert Square, but the character had finally run its course."EastEnders' Mark: Was it time to go? ", BBC. URL last accessed on 2006-10-16.
Campaigners have since suggested that Mark's HIV storyline could have been handled better in the latter years. Lisa Power, head of policy at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said "in some ways the storyline was not reflective of what was happening at the time as the condition was more common among the gay community". She also said "he was perhaps killed off too early as advancements in drugs are helping people live for much longer... Saying that, one decent soap episode is worth a thousand leaflets in schools. That is why we would always go out of our way to help scriptwriters. TV and films can be very powerful."
Departure (2003)