Steve Owen (EastEnders)
| Steve Owen | |||||||
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| Duration | 1998 - 2002 | ||||||
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Steve Owen is a fictional character in the British soap opera EastEnders. He was played by Martin Kemp.
When he first arrived in 1998, he had bought the Market Cellar, which he had renovated and named e20. It wasn't long before his obsessive ex-girlfriend, Saskia Duncan turned up on the square. She had carried his child and then had a termination - he finished with her but she wanted revenge. She tried to come between Steve and new girlfriend Mel. When Saskia ended up in bed with Steve, she made sure it was public knowledge.
On the opening day of the e20 - Valentine's day of 1999 - Saskia turned up and started taunting him and then began knocking him around until she finally tried to strangle him with his tie. In self-defence he reached for the heaviest object - an ashtray - and hit her over the head. The blow had been fatal, killing her instantly, she was buried in Epping forest with the help of Matthew Rose who witnessed the events.
Her body was later discovered and Matthew confessed all to the police but Steve walked free while Matthew was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Matthew took revenge upon his release in 2000, tying Steve to a chair in the e20 and threatening to set fire to it. Steve found himself reduced to a scared, helpless man, which was all Matthew wanted.
Steve turned into an emotional wreck and became a drug addict. In June 2000 his addiction almost killed his business partner, Beppe Di Marco, when he took a mixture of drugs that Steve had left around and collapsed.He then left the Square and returned fully reformed weeks later.
He came to the rescue of Melanie Healy who was being threatened by Dan Sullivan. He drove Dan out of the Square by pointing a gun on him and threatning to kill him if he showed up again.
Him and Mel eventually fell in love and Steve proposed to her and she accepted.
In March 2001, Steve married Melanie, despite learning that she had slept with Phil Mitchell on Christmas Day in a drunken one-night stand.
He then became the prime suspect in the infamous Who Shot Phil? storyline when Phil was shot by a mystery person on the same night of Steve and Mel's wedding. He became a suspect because he had known that Phil and Mel had a one-night stand on Christmas Day a day before the wedding and the fact that his gun that he kept in E20 was missing. The real culprit turned out to be Phil's ex-girlfriend Lisa. But Mel still believed it was Steve until after his death when Lisa finally told her.
Steve's life ended on 1st March 2002, exactly a year after his wedding to Mel. He was planning to start a new life with Melanie and her best friend Lisa Fowler in California but this time his luck run out after he started a vendetta against Phil. He tried to take off on his own with Phil and Lisa's baby but Phil was soon hot on his trail. A furious car chase ensued and Steve lost control of the car and crashed into a wall. Phil got Louise out but then the car exploded into flames with Steve still inside and he perished.