When trendy Camden got too expensive for Mel and her ailing jewellery business, she made the move to Walford. After years travelling round Greek islands and avoiding her family, it was a bit of a surprise to bump into dad Jeff and brother Alex living just down the road.
A nation was shocked when lovely Mel got hitched to arch-rat Ian. Amid cries of what does she see in him?, she agreed to marry him in the double wedding of the millennium. She walked out on lying Ian only hours after they were married, but that didnt stop her being stuck as the second Mrs Beale. Then smooth Steve Owen entered the scene and swept her off her feet. Mel tried to play hard to get but Steve set their wedding date and it all went to plan ... nearly. Just hours before the ceremony, Steve discovered that Mel had slept with Phil a few months earlier. As a cruel coincidence Phil was shot on the day of the wedding and Steve was the prime suspect.
Steve was in the clear, but Phil tried to set Dan up for the attack, Dan thought Steve was involved, and kidnapped Mel as an evil revenge. She was eventually released, but during her imprisonment she discovered that Steve had told her a web of lies. The best revenge she could think of was to burn down the e20 nightclub and then make a run for it.
Mel reappeared in Walford several months later with a new man in tow. But it was only a matter of time before Steve had smooth-talked her again. Their plans to leave Albert Square for California were scuppered when Steve was involved in a fatal car crash and Mel was left to pick up the pieces.
Her final exit from Walford was a dramatic one. Steve used her signature to create fictional companies for money laundering. She was arrested and put in jail. After begging and nagging from Lisa, Phil paid her bail money. This was Mel's final chance to escape the Hell of Walford life. She was now pregnant and life had nothing to offer in East London. She packed her bags and caught the first coach she could from Victoria coach station.
