How did Pat from EastEnders die?
Pat Evans — Butcher to most fans — anchored EastEnders for a quarter of a century, all towering earrings and withering one-liners. When the show finally said goodbye, it gave her one of the most-loved send-offs in soap history — and then, remarkably, brought her back twice.
How Pat died
Pat died of pancreatic cancer. The illness emerged during the 2011 festive episodes and moved brutally fast: she died at home in her own bed on New Year's Day 2012, surrounded by family, with her long-lost son David Wicks back at her bedside. The final scene of the episode simply showed Pat closing her eyes.
Pam St Clement, who had played her since 12 June 1986, filmed her last scenes in November 2011 after more than 25 years in the role — making her one of the programme's longest-serving cast members ever.
The life she packed in
- Four husbands — Pete Beale (before the show even began), Brian Wicks, Frank Butcher, and Roy Evans.
- A prison stretch — jailed after a drink-driving hit-and-run in which a pedestrian died.
- The earrings — a trademark so iconic that St Clement's own memoir is titled The End of an Earring.
She's been back twice since
Death has proved no obstacle. In May 2016, Pat appeared as a figment of the dying Peggy Mitchell's imagination on the night of Peggy's own exit. Then, in December 2025, St Clement — now 83 — returned again for Nigel Bates's dementia storyline, appearing behind the bar of a 1990s Queen Vic as Nigel's memories carried him back in time, alongside another ghost of Walford past, Barry Evans.
"It was just like coming home," St Clement said in the BBC's 2025 announcement.
For the record, her first line back — thirteen years after dying on screen — was pure Pat: "And a very Merry Christmas to you and all sweetheart." Some characters never really leave.