The father of the Fowler family, Arthur was essentially a good man but made some foolish choices that he always ended up paying dearly for.

His storylines involved being bossed to the brink of insanity by his mother-in-law Lou Beale (Anna Wing), an affair with Christine Hewitt (Elizabeth Power), suffering a mental disorder, being sent to prison twice, and eventually dying of a brain haemorrhage in 1996.

Arthur's greatest pleasure is gardening and he obtains a spot in the local allotment, which he regularly uses as a foil to escape his nagging mother-in-law (and later his equally-nagging wife).

Arthur's lack of employment becomes a huge problem for him in 1986 when his daughter, Michelle, announces her engagement to Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt).

Hurt, embarrassed, and angry, Pauline responds by hitting Arthur in the face with a frying pan, throwing a television set at him and then kicking him out of their home.

In 1995, Arthur is elected secretary of the allotment committee, and starts raising money to create a new eco-friendly, urban garden, which is named the Flowering Wilderness Fund.

This is too much for Arthur, who is unable to face the prospect of serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit, and upon his imprisonment he suffers a mental breakdown and refuses any contact with his family.

Not content with putting Arthur in prison, Willy spends the beginning of 1996 trying to woo Pauline in his absence, even taking her on holiday to Jersey.

However, this proves to be Willy's undoing, after Mark correctly surmises that his real motive is to put the stolen money in an off-shore account under a false name.

On 11 February 2025 to coincide with the shows 40th anniversary Arthur was featured in old archive footage, along with wife Pauline, appearing on the TV Quiz ‘Cat and Mouse’.

Arthur Fowler was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith.

Arthur's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.

Bill Treacher was the first actor Holland and Smith had thought of to play the character, in fact, Arthur had almost been invented with him in mind.

[1] Treacher admitted in 2015 that he was initially reluctant to take on the role due to the long hours and the distance from his family, but said, "I rang my agent and said, 'Tell Julia I'll do it'.

"[2] Arthur was initially scripted to be an extremely depressed character, which stemmed from his inability to find employment and provide sufficiently for his family.

Arthur's fall into depression was considered to be an extremely risky storyline to portray, as his decline was to take place over a lengthy period of time.

His eventual harrowing breakdown and destruction of Lou Beale's (Anna Wing) living room was written by Tony Holland and aired on Christmas Day 1986.

[1] It was initially decided that Arthur would not go to prison for stealing the Christmas club money, until a legal advisor to the programme suggested that EastEnders would not be portraying a likely outcome.

The episode cut back and forth between the trial and the regular goings-on in the Square before climaxing with the shock decision of the judge, who told Arthur that, as he had betrayed people's trust he must be seen to be punished, and she sentenced him to twenty-eight days.

[4] During 1989, Holland and Smith left EastEnders and executive producer Mike Gibbon took control, heralding a new era for the show.

However, a gash to the head he had sustained in prison led to a brain haemorrhage and Arthur died suddenly in 1996 shortly after his release.