with an artist named Matthew Taylor, who took nude photos of her and then constructed a life-size sculpture of her, which later turned up in Albert Square, enraging Frank. This ignited Diane's own interest in art, which was demonstrated later in the year when she painted a mural on the side of the Butcher household. Actress Sophie Lawrence did research for the storyline among real homeless people. Departure Subsequent storylines featuring Diane included involvement in the plight of pregnant runaway Disa, whom Diane brought back to Walford to bond with her baby—Disa had initially abandoned the baby on Diane's doorstep on Christmas Day 1990. The bulk of the character's narrative concerned a blossoming romance with one of EastEnders''' original characters, Mark Fowler (Todd Carty), who returned to the serial as a regular character in 1990 after a three-year absence. The relationship was never consummated however, because in January 1991 Mark revealed to Diane that he was HIV positive—he was the first mainstream soap opera character to be diagnosed. The episode, written by Tony McHale, has been described as the "important" beginning to Mark's HIV storyline, as Mark's secret HIV status was finally revealed to the audience as well as Diane. In the on-screen events, Diane tried to be supportive to Mark and persuaded him to have counselling at the Terrence Higgins Trust, though their relationship was never quite the same again; when Mark, prompted by his mother Pauline (Wendy Richard), asked Diane to marry him, she turned him down and left the serial to move to France shortly after. Off-screen Sophie Lawrence had decided to quit the soap to take on new projects, which included an attempt at a music career. She has commented, "I left because I wanted to play something different. In doing that, you have to grow out of the public's perception of you as an EastEnders character. But I wanted variety of roles. I felt I couldn't just carry on being Diane indefinitely. I wanted to be an actor, not just a personality." Brief returns The character has made numerous brief returns to the serial as a guest character. In 1993, she was featured in a special week of episodes, filmed on-location in Paris, France, where Frank discovered, to his horror, that Diane was pregnant with an unknown foreign man's baby. In June 1994, Diane returned to Walford as part of a storyline involving her father's