Steven Beale was a key member of the Beale family on EastEnders but what happened to him and what is his connection to the family?

Steven Beale has been a key part of the EastEnders’ Beale family.

The character played a key role in the drama of the BBC soap throughout his life, and was born as the son of Cindy Beale and Simon Wicks. Whilst Cindy tried to convince Ian – who she was married to at the time – that Steven was his son, the truth later came out about who Steven’s real father was but Ian ended up raising him as his own.

Cindy was thought to have died in childbirth – although we now know this wasn’t true and instead she was in witness protection under the alias of Rose Knight – and after that Steven ended up living with Ian, before leaving in 2002 to live with his dad Simon.

Back in 2007, he returned to the Square and took Ian hostage, before opening up about his horrific last few years with his dad in New Zealand. He had a tumultuous time with the residents of Albert Square, attempting to kill Pat Butcher after finding out she was hiding Ian’s daughter Lucy from him. He tried to get her to leave with him on the Eurostar, but Ian convinced Lucy to stay.

During a huge confrontation, Ian told Steven he never wanted to see him again and he was glad he wasn’t his biological son. He warned him if he ever saw him back in Walford, he’d kill him.

Despite the warning, Steven did return in 2016 when Jane was in hospital after being attacked by Bobby. In the end, Steven died in shocking scenes when he promised to do whatever Max Branning wanted in a bid to keep his lie about having cancer a secret. Max