List of East Enders Characters (1991) - Joe Wallace

Joe Wallace, played by Jason Rush, is a young, gay chef who is HIV-positive. He arrives in Walford in July 1991 and gets a job at Ian Beale's (Adam Woodyatt) restaurant, The Meal Machine. He encourages Mark Fowler (Todd Carty) to tell his parents that he is HIV-positive. When Ian discovers that Joe has HIV, he sacks him and disinfects his whole kitchen. Joe then leaves Walford to live with his parents and is the last person to see Eddie Royle alive before Eddie is murdered by Nick Cotton (John Altman) in September that year.

At the trial of Eddie's murder in 1993, Joe briefly returns as a witness. Joe saves Clyde Tavernier (Steven Woodcock) from being convicted of the crime, by testifying that he saw Nick Cotton climb down his drainpipe the night Eddie was murdered. This implicates him as a suspect and provides enough reasonable doubt to secure Clyde's release from custody.

His mother writes to Mark telling him he is dying in a hospice in 1994. Joe's death of HIV shocks Mark, but it is visiting the hospice that leads him to meet his future wife, Ruth Aitken (Caroline Paterson).