Harriet Jessica Phoebe "Hetti" Bywater (born 10 September 1994) is an English former actress. She is best known for portraying

Lucy Beale Lucy Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. The character was played by Eva Brittin-Snell, Casey Anne Rothery, Melissa Suffield, and Hetti Bywater. Lucy was introduced in December 1993 as the daughter of Ian ( ...

in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'', taking over the role from

Melissa Suffield Melissa Holly Suffield (born 24 December 1992) is a former English actress known for her role in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' as Lucy Beale. She appeared on the show from 2004 to 2010.

from 2012 until the character’s murder in 2014.

Early life

Bywater was born in

Sedlescombe Sedlescombe is a village and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex, England. The village is on the B2244 road, about north of Hastings. The parish includes the hamlet of Kent Street, East Sussex, Kent Street, which ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

to Welsh parents of mixed heritage. Her grandfather from her mother’s side is Jamaican. She studied

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

at The Theatre Workshop in

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, and from the ages of 13 to 15 attended Claverham Community College in

Battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

Acting career

Bywater began her career in 2011 by making guest appearances in ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' and ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

''. She also had a minor role in the ''

St George's Day Saint George's Day is the Calendar of saints, feast day of Saint George, celebrated by Christian churches, countries, regions, and cities of which he is the Patronages of Saint George, patron saint, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bu ...

'' film in the same year. Bywater had a guest appearance in the fourth series of ''

Death in Paradise ''Death in Paradise'' is a crime drama, crime television series created by Robert Thorogood, starring Ben Miller (Series 1–3), Kris Marshall (Series 3–6), Ardal O'Hanlon (Series 6–9), Ralf Little (Series 9–13) and Don Gilet (2024 Speci ...

'' in 2015,. Between 2016 and 2017, Bywater guest-starred in two episodes of the first series of the

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

drama '' Delicious''.

''EastEnders''

Bywater’s most notable role was in ''

'' in 2012 as

, taking over from

.^{/sup>

In 2014, it was announced that the character of Lucy would be murdered, introducing a whodunnit

A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer ...
storyline (“ Who Killed Lucy Beale?”) that would run until the show’s 30th anniversary in February 2015, when the identity of the murderer was revealed.

Bywater made her final appearance as a series regular on 18 April 2014, returning for a flashback episode on 19 February 2015 as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations.

Filmography

;

References

External links

*
*

Living people
1994 births
English television actresses
English people of Welsh descent
Actresses from East Sussex
English child actresses
People from Sedlescombe
21st-century English actresses

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