Beppe di Marco

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EastEnders character

Beppe di Marco
Portrayed by	Michael Greco
Duration	1998–2002
Date of birth	23 July 1970
Marital status	Divorced
Occupation	Club owner and ex-police officer
Family	Bruno, Luisa, Rosa, Gianni, Teresa, Luca, Nicky, Joe

Beppe di Marco was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Michael Greco.

Beppe was his family's pride and joy, so it was a big shock to them when he was fired from the police force for attempting to frame local hardman Grant Mitchell. Beppe was the local heart-throb and he had numerous relationships in Albert Square, which all ended in disaster.

1 History
2 Family
3 In popular culture
4 External links

[edit] History

Beppe arrived in Albert Square early in 1998, with the rest of his family: mother Rosa, brother Gianni and sisters Teresa and Nicky. Beppe's family came to Walford to open an Italian restaurant, and he had built himself a successful career in the police force, progressing through the ranks to the Vice squad.

Beppe was a single father to Joe. Joe's mother, Sandra had abandoned him 10 months after his birth - driven away by Beppe's interfering family, who never forgave her for not being Italian.

Upon his arrival, Beppe instantly clashed with the Mitchell brothers, Phil and Grant, who were known to dabble on the wrong side of the law and were seen by Beppe as trouble makers. Beppe's animosity towards Grant, in particular, increased when he struck up a close friendship with Grant's abused wife Tiffany. It wasn't long before Beppe had fallen in love with Tiffany and was urging her to leave Grant to be with him. Tiffany decided to do this after she caught Grant in bed with her mother Louise and she packed her bags ready to flee Walford with Grant's daughter Courtney.

Beppe and Tiffany

However, just as Tiffany was about to leave, she fell down the stairs, leaving everyone to suspect that Grant had pushed her. Beppe was furious and arrested Grant for her attempted murder. He also coerced Tiffany, who was recovering in hospital, to pretend that Grant had pushed her in order to keep him locked up. Tiffany did this, but her conscience got the better of her and she later wrote a letter exonerating her husband of any wrong doing and instructed her best friend, Bianca, to hand it to the police after she'd fled Walford for a second time. However, before she could leave, she was accidentally killed in a car accident, whilst trying to reclaim her child from Grant, who had been released on bail that same day. Since Tiffany had been on the verge of eloping with Beppe at the time, he never forgave Grant, and when he got his hands on the letter that exhonerated him, Beppe decided to burn it instead of seeing his enemy cleared. Beppe was subsequently kicked off the force for withholding evidence and police misconduct.

Now out of work, Beppe got a job as a cab driver working for Barry Evans and later embarked on a stormy relationship with Grant's little sister Sam Mitchell. Sam seemed to take the relationship more seriously than Beppe, and she became extremely jealous of his platonic friendship with his flatmate Nina Harris, so their relationship didn't last long.

In 2000, Beppe became a partner with Steve Owen and took on management of his nightclub The E20. His police contacts came in handy soon after when drugs were found in his club and he managed to persuade them to turn a blind eye.

Also in 2000, Beppe's estranged wife Sandra resurfaced, hoping to gain access to their son Joe. Although she was met with hostility at first, she and Beppe soon began to grow closer and eventually rekindled their romance, much to Beppe's family's disgust. Because of his ties, he also decided to stay in Walford when the rest of his family left the Square and moved to Leicester. Beppe was still madly in love with Sandra and he soon began pressurising her to have more children. The suggestion was met with hostility from Sandra and she flatly refused. Soon after, Beppe's old vice-squad partner, Jack Robbins, arrived in Albert Square looking for Sandra. It turned out that Sandra had been involved with Jack for years before her reappearance in Walford. She had left him following a miscarriage that left her unable to have children. Sandra tried to deny her feelings for Jack, but eventually she admitted that she was still in love with him and had only reconciled with Beppe so she could get custody of her son again. She and Jack reignited their romance and Sandra made plans to flee Walford with Jack and Joe. However, Beppe caught them just as they were about to leave and when he realised what was going on he attacked Jack, took Joe back and denied Sandra any access. Sandra and Jack subsequently threatened to take Beppe to court for custody of Joe. Beppe retaliated by using his police contacts to plant drugs on Jack, getting him kicked from the force. The constant rowing was having a negative effect on Joe and he found it difficult to choose between his warring parents. This culminated in him getting hit by a car when he disobeyed his father and ran across the road to be with his mother. Joe was not seriously hurt, but the accident made his parents rethink their behaviour. Beppe eventually allowed Sandra visitation rights and so she left Walford with Jack the following year.

In 2002, before Steve was killed in a car accident, Beppe bought out his share of the 20 and became sole owner of the club, which was a massive shock to Steve's wife Mel, as she had been led to believe that she was the sole owner. During this period, Beppe spent much of his time bedding anonymous women and dumping them when he got bored. He even ended up contracting a minor STD. Beppe became close to Lynne Slater, who would regularly baby sit for Joe whilst he was working, and she helped point out the error of his womanising ways. Beppe soon fell for Lynne and made an ill-fated attempt to stop her from marrying her cheating fiance, Garry Hobbs, but although Lynne was tempted, she went ahead with the marriage.

In 2002, Beppe had news that his mother had died of a heart-attack, which prompted him to sell his club to Sharon Watts and leave Walford to tend to his grieving family.