Kathy Mitchell

Kathy Mitchell

Katherine "Kathy" Mitchell (née Hills; previously Beale) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gillian Taylforth between 1985 and 2000. Though it was never used on screen, in 2010 the BBC website named the character as Kathy Sullivan due to a marriage after she left the show in 2000.

Kathy is one of the serial's original characters, appearing in the first episode of EastEnders on 19 February 1985. One of the longest-running original characters, Kathy remained in a prominent role, covering issues such as rape and domestic violence until April 1998, when Taylforth quit. A year later, in 1999, Taylforth returned for a temporary stint to aid the departure of actor Ross Kemp who played her brother-in-law Grant Mitchell, and later in December 1999 for the wedding of her screen son Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt). She made her final appearance in January 2000.

Despite various rumours of a possible return for Kathy in the press, this did not occur and the character was killed off-screen in a road accident in late February 2006 in a storyline to facilitate the return of her son Ben (Charlie Jones) to his father Phil (Steve McFadden). In tribute to the character, the soap's café is named "Kathy's" until 2011.