Mehmet Osman

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EastEnders character

Mehmet Osman
Portrayed by	Haluk Bilginer
Duration	1985–1989
First appearance	13 June 1985
Last appearance	23 March 1989
Marital status	Married
Occupation	Café owner and Mini cab owner
Family	Murat, Rayif, Emine, Guizin, Ali, Hassan, Little Ali, Sue

Mehmet Osman was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Haluk Bilginer.

Mehmet was a charmer, rogue and a serial womaniser and wherever he went trouble seemed to follow him.

[edit] History

Mehmet was a Turkish Cypriot and the older brother of the original owner of the Bridge street café, Ali Osman. He was first seen in Albert Square in June 1985 when he came to take part in one of Ali's regular late-night poker games. Like his brother, Mehmet was a serial gambler and whenever he gambled the stakes were often foolishly high.

In June 1986 Mehmet and Ali started a cab firm called 'OzCabs' from a corner table in Al's Café. Mehmet was married with three children, but monogomy was one sanctity of marriage that he was more than willing to overlook. Later that month punk Mary Smith caught his eye, and so he bet his sceptical brother £10 that he could get Mary into his bed. Mary was well aware that Mehmet's intentions were dishonourable and initially refused to sleep with him, but Mehmet persisted and she finally relented and spent the night with him. After Mehmet finally had his wicked way with Mary, he went to collect his winnings and gloat to his brother in the café. However, Mary overheard the entire conversation and she then set about trying to get revenge on him by hoax calling his cab-firm and vandalising his car.

Later in the year Mehmet acted as Pat Wick's pimp, setting her up with clients on a regular basis and he even persuaded Pat to convince Mary to go on the game too. He also got involved in Kathy Beale's Knitting business, later conning her and disappearing with all her profits. After he got into more trouble with his customers for overcharging on fares and then trying it on with Hannah Carpenter, the residents of Albert Square had finally had enough and went to confront him. Den Watts, Pete Beale and Tony Carpenter caught up with him, beat him to a pulp and forced him to pay Kathy back.

Mehmet proceeded to make things infinitely worse for himself soon after, when he staked his house and business on a bet, lost and swiftly disappeared leaving his wife, Guizin Osman, to face up to the consequences. A now homeless Guzin arrived on Ali and his wife Sue's doorstep with the news that Mehmet had beat her and she wasn't ever returning to him. Ali and Sue were forced to take Guizin and her three children, Murat, Rayif and Emine into their one bedroom apartment.

Mehmet returned to Walford in May 1987 and he managed to persuade his long suffering wife to give their marriage another go. However, his promises to Guizin would prove to be hollow as soon after he decided that the barmaid Donna Ludlow was to be the next 'notch on his bedpost'. Donna refused his advances, but couldn't resist informing Guizin about his offer and Guizin and Donna nearly came to blows on New Years Eve that year. Mehmet and Guzin later became partners in Ali's café after Sue gave up working to look after her baby.

In 1988 Mehmet and Ali ran up huge gambling debts to Joanne Francis, manageress of Strokes wine bar, who was also a member of the criminal underworld known as The Firm. Desperate for money the two turned to their café employee, Ian Beale, for a loan. He agreed, but charged his employers 10 percent interest and later, when they couldn't meet the repayments, he demanded into their partnership in the café. The brothers refused, but the debt eventually led to Ali losing the café to Ian the following year.

Mehmet's marriage went through some more trouble in 1989, when Ali's wife, Sue, discovered that her husband had been sleeping with prostitute, Donna Ludlow. Sue was traumatised by this news and turned to Mehmet for comfort. Seeing her chance for revenge Sue made a pass at Mehmet, purposefully kissing him in Ali's view. For once Mehmet was innocent, but Ali refused to believe this and went berserk, which culminated in a massive fight. Still not content, Sue cruelly divulged their fabriacted affair to Guzin, who was unable to forgive her husband's latest infedelity with her sister-in-law. After viciously attacking Mehmet she left Walford to return to Cyprus, taking their three children with her. After another huge bust-up with Sue, Mehmet decided to cut his losses and return to Cyprus in order to win his wife back. His last appearance was in March 1989.