Steve Elliot

Name: Steve Elliot
First Appeared: 22nd October 1991
Last Appeared: 12th February 1996
Played by: Mark Moreno

Steve Elliot, the charming old school friend of Hattie Tavernier and Sam Mitchell, first graced Albert Square in October 1991, initially working as a pizza chef. His culinary talents didn’t go unnoticed by Ian Beale, who quickly hired him as the head chef at his catering business, The Meal Machine. Steve and Hattie soon began flirting, and by 1992, their relationship blossomed into a romance. However, unlike Hattie, Steve wasn’t exactly keen on commitment. Still, he accepted her marriage proposal on New Year’s Eve 1992. Wedding plans were set, but Steve got cold feet after losing his job and listening to Mandy Salter’s advice that he wasn’t ready for marriage. By 1993, Steve had decided to take a job as a chef on a cruise ship, neglecting to tell Hattie that the wedding was off. Unbeknownst to him, Hattie was pregnant and followed him, pleading for him to stay. She didn’t tell him about the pregnancy, fearing he’d stay out of obligation rather than love. Steve left, and Hattie suffered a miscarriage shortly after.

Steve returned to Walford in 1994, hoping to reunite with Hattie, only to find she had left. After failing to win her back, he resigned himself to her absence. Grant Mitchell then gave him a job as a barman at The Queen Victoria. There, Steve fell for Della Alexander, a new arrival who opened a hair salon called Kool for Kutz and coaxed Steve into becoming her business partner. As their friendship grew, Steve began to pursue Della romantically, only to discover she was a lesbian when he caught her with her girlfriend, Binnie Roberts. Steve threw Della out in disgust, sparking a feud between him and Binnie.

In 1995, Steve bought shares in the Bridge Street café and opened a night bistro, igniting a rivalry with Ian Beale, who saw him as competition and tried to shut him down. Things escalated when Steve was approached by a criminal firm to host an illegal gambling night at the café. Several Walford residents, including Mark Fowler, attended, and Mark won a sizable sum, which he gave to his father, Arthur Fowler, to repay a loan. This led to Arthur being falsely accused of embezzlement. Steve faced a dilemma when Mark asked him to testify as a character witness. Admitting to the illegal gambling would threaten Steve’s trading license and implicate the criminal firm. When the firm learned Steve planned to testify, they kidnapped his girlfriend, Lydia, and threatened her life to dissuade him. Frantic, Steve eventually found Lydia and, fearing for their lives, packed up and left Walford with her in February 1996.