Josie McFarlane

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EastEnders character

Josie McFarlane
Portrayed by	Joan Hooley
Duration	1998–2000
Date of birth	1945
Marital status	Widowed
Occupation	Receptionist
Family	Kim, Mick

Josie McFarlane was a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Joan Hooley.

[edit] History

Jamaican born Josie, was the mother of Mick McFarlane and she arrived in Albert Square in August 1998 to visit her son, who she thought was a successful musician. However, Mick's music career had failed and he had ended up selling CD's on a market stall in the Square, as well as running the Bridge Street café's night bistro. Josie, who always had high aspirations for herself and her family, was none too pleased to find out that her son had been lying about his professional status, but Josie was also harbouring a few secrets of her own.

Her husband, who she worshiped, had recently died, but before his death he had been defrauded in a Jamaican property scam and so Josie was now practically penniless. But perhaps more shockingly, Josie had fostered a young girl named Kim, who she claimed was a distant relative of Mick's. In actual fact, Kim was the illegitimate daughter of her philandering husband, and after her mother's death, Josie had kindly taken her in instead of seeing her go into care. When Mick was finally made privvy to this information he was extremely shocked and even more surprised to find out that both Josie and Kim planned to stay in Walford instead of returning to Jamaica. Despite his initial misgivings Mick soon welcomed his mother and new sister into his home.

Josie and Kim later moved into number 3c Albert Square, where Josie became friendly with her downstairs neghbours, Dot Cotton and Lilly Mattock, although Josie and Dot used to bicker constantly.

Josie initially got herself a job as a barmaid at The Queen Vic and she later became the receptionist at Fred Fonseca's doctors' surgery. However, things did not run smoothly for her in her new post. Josie was a strict perfectionist, she also expected perfection from everyone else and she wasn't adverse to telling them so either. Her strict mannerisms only sought to frighten away half the patients. She eventually managed to settle down with a lot of coaching from Dr Fonseca, however, yet more problems arose when she discovered that her employer was homosexual. Josie was a strict Christain and she felt that working for a homosexual conflicted with her religious beliefs. She even went as far as to accuse him of coercing Kim into becoming a lesbian. She continued down a path of self-righteousness, judging everyone by her own, impossibly high standards. After she discovered that her son had gotten involved with ex-prostitute, Nina Harris, she could not condone their friendship and her aloof manner towards Nina infuriated Mick, who ended up branding her a 'lonely, bitter, old woman'. It took bigoted remarks by racist Jim Branning to make Josie realise that she was as prejudiced in her own way as he was, but by then it was too late. Having forgotten to renew her visa she was threatened with deportation and so she was forced to return to Jamaica, leaving Kim in Mick's care. She promised Kim she would return when she sorted out her visa, but so far she has not come back. Her last appearance was in February 2000.