| Steve Owen | |||||||||||||||
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| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Martin Kemp | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1998–2002 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 1716 28 December 1998 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | Episode 2264 1 March 2002 | ||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Matthew Robinson | ||||||||||||||
| Book appearances | Steve Owen: Still Waters (2001) | ||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances | Pudding Lane (1999) | ||||||||||||||
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Steve Owen is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Martin Kemp. He first appeared on 28 December 1998. Introduced by series producer Matthew Robinson, Steve was a shady businessman who originally came into Albert Square to buy the local Market Cellar club – which he then renovated and later renamed the E20. He soon became one of the show's primary villains when the character's first major storyline saw Steve killed his old flame Saskia Duncan (Deborah Sheridan-Taylor) during the opening night of his E20 nightclub on Valentine's Day 1999, after which he frames his DJ employee Matthew Rose (Joe Absolom) for the crime, which leads to Matthew enacting revenge on Steve.
Steve embarks on feuds with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass) and he develops a relationship with [Mel Healy]] (Tamzin Outhwaite). Steve contributes to his significant interaction with other members of the Mitchell family by establishing an antagonistic business partnership with Phil's brother Grant (Ross Kemp); sleeping with their younger sister Sam (Kim Medcalf); employing the siblings' cousin, Billy (Perry Fenwick); clashing with Phil's adolescent godson Jamie (Jack Ryder); and sparking a quarrel with the family's matriarch, Peggy (Barbara Windsor), over his managing stake of The Queen Victoria.
In 2001, the character was involved in the "Who Shot Phil?" storyline when he became a prime suspect. The whodunit scenario began with Steve marrying Mel on the day of Phil's shooting and ultimately concluded with Dan kidnapping Mel for ransom against both Steve and Phil, after the pair had worked together to implicate Dan behind the shooting – even though the culprit was earlier revealed to be Phil's ex-girlfriend and Mel's closest companion: Lisa Shaw (Lucy Benjamin). Martin Kemp soon quit the series after his contract to the show had expired, and his final scenes were aired on 1 March 2002, when Steve was killed-off in a vehicle explosion. Kemp received multiple award nominations and victories for his critically-acclaimed portrayal of Steve Owen.