he fatally collapses onto Martin's market stall. Jim looks out of the window as Joe lies dead on the street. The following morning, Joe is exposed as Pauline's killer in public and his body is subsequently taken away. Character creation and development The character Joe Macer, played by Ray Brooks, was introduced in August 2005 as a love interest for the long running character, Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard). The characters were shown to meet at salsa classes, a relationship was quickly developed and despite Pauline's initial trepidation the year 2006 saw her marrying Joe after almost a decade since the death of her first husband, Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher). Her wedding day was screened to coincide with EastEnders''' 21st anniversary. Richard was openly opposed to her character remarrying, but she was eventually convinced by the executive producer and battled—successfully—for Pauline to keep her surname, Fowler. In July 2006 however, Wendy Richard announced that she would be leaving the show. Richard felt that she did not have the same chemistry with Brooks, as she did with Treacher, who played Arthur. She rejected producers' opinions that Pauline and Joe "looked good together" and felt that she and Brooks had to work very hard to turn them into a "realistic-looking couple." Just two months after the wedding was screened, Pauline and Joe's marriage was shown to sour after Joe's criminal past was uncovered. Their relationship steadily deteriorated throughout the year, and in episodes that aired in December 2006 Pauline ended the marriage—removing her wedding ring and informing Joe that he "was half the man that Arthur had been, that she had never really loved him and that their sex life was a sham." The resulting row saw Joe insult Pauline's family—suggesting that her "perfect marriage" with Arthur was "nothing but a fantasy" and calling Mark "diseased", Michelle a "slapper" and Arthur a "con"—to which Pauline responded by smashing a plate over his head. Wendy Richard has commented "It was not just the memory of Arthur that stopped the marriage to Joe being a success. He was proven to be a weak and untruthful man. That is what caused the marriage to be a non-starter. Pauline was not mean to Joe, he used her…and lied to her." The destruction of Pauline and Joe's marriage was part of the build-up to the exits of both characters. Pauline was killed off in a "shocking" and dramatic