EastEnders: Are Lauren Beale and Mark Fowler related? Their family connection explained
Mark Fowler’s return leaves Lauren Beale torn, but how are they connected? The EastEnders family link involving her husband Peter explained.
Lauren’s marriage to Peter is under strain in EastEnders, and Mark’s return to Walford complicates her attempts to put their romantic involvement behind her. As Peter tries to repair their relationship, Lauren is left torn over Mark’s plans to leave for Florida. But how does Mark fit into the family Lauren married into, and are the two of them actually related?
Longtime viewers will remember the connection between the Beales and the Fowlers. With the younger generation now caught in this difficult situation, that shared history has become relevant again.
Lauren previously rejected Mark and told him to leave if he truly cared about her. When he returns, she initially assumes he has come back for her, only to discover that he is saying goodbye to his family before heading to Florida.
In later scenes, Lauren tells Mark that what happened between them cannot happen again. Yet as he prepares to leave, she finds herself torn, while Peter promises to be more spontaneous in an effort to reconnect with her.
Lauren and Mark are not blood relatives in EastEnders’ established family tree. The biological connection is between Mark and Peter, through Mark’s mother, Michelle, and Peter’s father, Ian.
Michelle’s mother, Pauline, and Ian’s father, Pete, were twins. That makes Michelle and Ian first cousins, and their sons, Mark and Peter, second cousins.
Mark and Peter therefore share great-grandparents, Lou and Albert. Their different surnames reflect separate branches of the same family.
Mark is the son of Michelle and Grant, connecting him to both the Fowlers and the Mitchells. Lauren is the daughter of Max and Tanya, with her marriage to Peter bringing her into the Beale family.
There are also two different Marks to keep track of. The man involved with Lauren is Michelle’s son, not her late brother, who belonged to the previous generation of Fowlers.
Peter is trying to repair his marriage, while Lauren is left torn as Mark prepares to leave.
Whatever she decides, Mark’s connection to Peter adds a family complication to an already difficult situation.
Watch EastEnders on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Find more Walford news and features on SoapLandTV. Images: EastEnders / BBC.
