Kathy remained in a prominent role throughout her original stint on the serial, including a friendship with Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), and featuring in high-profiled storylines involving her rape at the hands of James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde) and the discovery of a long-lost daughter, Donna Ludlow (Matilda Ziegler), after she was sexually assaulted as a teenager.

Kathy later had an affair with Buster Briggs (Karl Howman), and became critical in the events surrounding Max Branning's (Jake Wood) revenge campaign Albert Square – in light of the "Who Killed Lucy Beale?"

Kathy and Rocky later split when she discovers that he burned her café in an insurance scam which nearly killed her grandsons, Peter (Thomas Law) and Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell).

Kathy works as a barmaid in The Queen Victoria pub with her best friend, Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), whilst helping Pete on their fruit and veg stall.

During this time, Kathy finds unexpected support from Pete's first wife, Pat Wicks (Pam St Clement), whom she had initially despised and they become close friends.

He patiently pursues her, but after a few dates, she becomes hesitant and after she sees him kissing Eibhlin O'Donnell (Mary Conlon) – his former girlfriend visiting from Ireland – their lukewarm romance ends.

Later, Kathy begins a relationship with market inspector, Richard Cole (Ian Reddington), which sours when she discovers that he is taking a cash bribe and allowing a mobile hot dog van to trade in direct competition with her café.

Alex is prepared to give up his job to be with Kathy but she has second thoughts and considers moving to Cape Town, South Africa to live with her brother, Ted Hills (Brian Croucher).

After being released from a short stint in prison, Phil attempts to tell Ian privately on his wedding day that Kathy is alive, but cannot go through with it when Ben (now played by Harry Reid) walks in on their conversation.

Several weeks later, Kathy has escaped Gavin, and she contacts her old friend, Tracey (Jane Slaughter), at The Queen Vic, giving her an address to pass on to Phil.

Kathy returns from holiday and finds out from Kim Fox-Hubbard (Tameka Empson) about the gas explosion that left Jane severely injured and that Ian's adoptive son, Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell), has died.

Kathy is unbeknownst about Willmott-Brown's return until later on at Halloween, right after she comforts Michelle about her stalker, Tom Bailey (Daniel Casey) - as well as helping her give advice to Carmel's son, Shakil Kazemi (Shaheen Jafargholi), about his ex-girlfriend, Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield).

When Ian returns to Walford with his thought to be dead ex-wife, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), Kathy and Rocky move into flats owned by Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry).

When Keanu's body is discovered, Kathy, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) attempt to use their possession of the weapon against the others; they eventually frame Dean for the crime.

[9] Hilary Kingsley, author of The EastEnders Handbook, described Kathy in 1991 as "an attractive, bright, caring and highly moral woman, vulnerable but tough in some ways, streetwise, amusing, even witty [...] What she thinks is what she says.".

"[10] Kathy has been classified by Rupert Smith, author of EastEnders: 20 years in Albert Square, as a "drama queen", a "strong passionate [woman] who [goes] to pieces where men are concerned and always [comes] back for more".

[14] Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Peter Imbert, said a scene in which Kathy was questioned following her rape was "out of date and would do nothing to encourage reporting this despicable crime".

She wrote to the then Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, to try to stop the episode being repeated in the soap's weekly Sunday omnibus, suggesting that it violated the BBC's own code of practice.

Writer Colin Brake has revealed that this liaison had first been suggested by the EastEnders' script department three years prior, in 1990, but the idea had been rejected in favour of Kathy getting involved with pub landlord Eddie Royle (Michael Melia).

The storyline was used to spread a public message, when Kathy's baby son Ben contracted a rare form of meningitis, leaving him with impaired hearing and the threat of brain damage.

Irrationally, Kathy blames herself - but she won't trust him with anyone else"[citation needed] and according to Dr Richard Lansdown of London University's Institute of Child Health, "Such extreme anxiety is only natural [...] This constant checking is very, very common when children are seriously ill."[citation needed] Kathy's concern for Ben was shown to have a negative effect on her relationship with Phil, leading into the start of the couple's most notable storyline, Phil's descent into alcoholism and the consequences the condition has upon the sufferer's domestic life.

The relationship between alcohol abuse and domestic violence was explored between Phil and Kathy culminating in the slow deterioration of their marriage, which the BBC claims "gripped viewers" throughout 1997.

"[citation needed] However, her departure was later confirmed, with Taylforth saying that she made the decision to quit after she missed her daughter's sports day due to filming commitments on set.

"[40] During the Children In Need charity appeal of 1993, the BBC produced a special two-part edition of the popular science-fiction television programme Doctor Who, entitled Dimensions in Time.

A scene from the programme, which was set in the future, showed a grey-haired Kathy Beale selling fruit and veg from Mark Fowler's stall with produce all priced with barcodes.

Kathy, along with an elderly version of Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), featured in promotional pictures with the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee, and the Children in Need mascot, Pudsey Bear.

He described her, along with characters Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon), Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer), Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) and Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) as "strong women who can't control their appetites".

[18] Writer and actress Jacquetta May, who played Rachel Kominski in EastEnders in the early 1990s, has commented on Kathy and questioned whether the events that happened in her fictional life reflected "any sort of true experience".

[23] Women found the depiction of family life and domestic violence realistic and believable and felt that soap operas such as EastEnders should deal with important social issues.

There was a quite widely shared sense of how men and women are characterised as radically different in EastEnders and other soap operas..." A scene in which Kathy and her close friend Pat Butcher (Pam St Clement) show their competence as electricians, a scene that allowed the characters to "re-examine past mistakes and agree that life is hell, but you've got to keep struggling, mend the electrics ('wait for a man to do a job and you'll wait forever') and have a laugh" was felt, especially in middle-class male groups, "to be a superficial kind of feminism in line with how soap operas underscore gender differences.