and Bianca, Diane was described as "rather normal" for a member of the Butcher family. Upon her return in 2008, the character had altered and matured. Lawrence has commented, "coming back, she seems quite nice actually, she seem more relaxed. She's so much older I suppose, so she's sort of grown up really. She seems nice and kind and settled with her life." Teenage runaway The most notable storyline featuring Diane during her initial stint on the soap concerned the character running away from home in 1990. In the on-screen events, Diane was shown to be increasingly unhappy towards the latter part of 1989, exacerbated by the sudden departure of her boyfriend Paul Priestly (Mark Thrippleton). Diane decided to run away from home in January 1990 when it seemed her family had forgotten her 16th birthday—they were actually planning a surprise party for her that she never got to see. Diane's disappearance dominated the programme in the beginning of 1990. Focus was placed upon the effect her departure had on the Butcher family, in particular her father Frank who searched unsuccessfully for his missing daughter. When the storyline had originally been scripted in 1989, it was left open-ended, meaning that none of the writers or producers of EastEnders had decided whether Diane would ever be found. However, towards the end of 1989, EastEnders acquired a new executive producer, Michael Ferguson, and according to scriptwriter Colin Brake, one of his first decisions was that "Diane must be found". The subsequent story of her returning home and adjusting to life back in Walford was developed. The episodes where Diane returned home aired towards the end of March 1990. They were written by Tony McHale and directed by Mike Barnes. The episodes have been described as "extraordinary" and a "radical departure from the normal EastEnders form", because they used flashbacks to tell the story of Diane's three months living on the streets of London as a homeless girl. Simultaneously, they also told the present story of Frank finding Diane, and bringing her back to Walford. Colin Brake has described them as powerful episodes, which "returned EastEnders to the tradition of gritty realism that had been integral to the early episodes." In the flashbacks, it was revealed that Diane had lived rough on the streets and joined a gang of runaways, befriending a young girl named Disa O'Brien (Jan Graveson). Diane also became involved