George Palmer is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Paul Moriarty. He appeared between 4 July 1996 and 8 December 1998, being one of many characters axed by then executive producer Matthew Robinson.
Storylines
George Palmer first arrived at Albert Square to expand his business in Walford. It quickly turns out that George is a major figure in the East End criminal underworld who owns an illegal gambling den/money laundering operation, which masquerades as a members' only club known as The Market Cellar. He soon catches the attention of Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor), local landlady of The Queen Victoria public house who disapproves of the business and tries to petition against it.
Pragmatically, George begins wooing Peggy in order to stop the objections to his club. He succeeds and soon finds himself growing attracted to Peggy, who eventually blossoms into genuine attraction towards him. George supports Peggy through breast cancer and they announce their engagement at Christmas 1996. However, Peggy's two hardman sons Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp) learn about George's illegal activities and they subsequently inform Peggy about it; Peggy responds by dumping George despite his attempt to win her back. After being unable to recoup his relationship with Peggy and upon finding his business in trouble, George flees to New Zealand where his criminal empire is based. During his absence at one stage, Peggy and her family end up getting into a conflict with the local mob who are seeking to hunt down George.
Later on, George reappears on the square to continue establishing his operation. He is soon joined by his daughter Annie (Nadia Sawalha), who had originally appeared to be his business partner sent to help him run the operation. It soon becomes clear that their relationship has become strained, as Annie had always felt her father wanted a son instead of a daughter and she continuously tries to prove her potential to George. As she makes progress in doing so, George forms a romance with local resident Rosa di Marco (Louise Jameson) - who had recently become a widow. By the time George and Rosa have gotten engaged, it emerges they had an affair just years before George had moved into Walford - at the time which Rosa's husband Giuseppe was in prison. It also becomes apparent to Rosa that George is possibly the father of her youngest son Gianni (Marc Bannerman), but this eventually turns out to be false when George does a DNA test and it later confirms that he is not Gianni's father.
Afterwards, George breaks up his engagement with Rosa and authorizes Annie to manage his business for him as he decides to return to New Zealand; he departs the square in 1998 and Annie soon joins him a year later.
Creation and development
Actor Paul Moriarty was asked to read for the role of George along with 10 other actors. Moriarty was called back instantly and asked to begin working on the role the following day. He has commented to an American fan-based publication, "[It was] quite overwhelming. I had watched the show but not religiously [...] So I show up at [the studios in] Borehamwood the very next day, straight to make-up and then onto [the soap's setting of] Albert Square to do my first bit [...] I might just as well have landed on Mars."