Villains Wiki

Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!

READ MORE

Villains Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Warning
Scarfaceinthefall
This article's content is marked as Mature
The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older.

If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page.

Villain Overview

Memories are better!.
~ Janine as she deliberately watches her first husband Barry Evans die shortly after pushing him off a cliff, thus causing his death in the end.
Pat made Dad happy, Peggy. At least she was a real woman.
~ Janine taunts Peggy Mitchell over Frank and Pat's affair


Janine Butcher is one the main antagonists of the British soap opera EastEnders.

Initially starting off as a troublesome schoolgirl who was the daughter of Frank Butcher and stepdaughter of his two wives Pat Butcher and Peggy Mitchell respectively, Janine later became involved in various high-profiled storylines that saw the character evolve into a calculating and manipulative antagonist who was willing to do anything in order to become rich or keep her relationships afloat. This was most notified when she ended up killing her spousal step-brother Barry Evans shortly after marrying him for his inheritance. She also murdered her third husband Michael Moon in self-defense following a custody battle for their daughter Scarlett.

Other plotlines involving Janine included her unsuccessful attempt to marry a wealthy Jewish businessman named David for his fortune; trying to kill her second husband Ryan Malloy, accidentally causing the death of Peggy's long-lost relative Danielle Jones, being wrongfully imprisoned for the death of her sworn enemy Laura Beale, framing Danielle's best-friend Stacey Slater for attempted murder, conspiring with Peggy's villainous ex-spouse Archie Mitchell to get revenge on the Mitchell Family, implicating Scarlett's nanny Alice Branning for Michael's murder, seducing pub landlord Mick Carter to the point of marrying him as well as sabotaging his long-running marriage with beloved wife Linda, clashing with Mick's mother Shirley Carter, and getting jailed for perverting the course of justice after her instigation of the events where Janine tried to get Linda imprisoned for drink driving consequently led to Mick's disappearance following a showdown between the three on Christmas Day 2022.

The character is portrayed by Charlie Brooks.

Biography[]

Janine Butcher first appeared in Walford from 1989; her father Frank Butcher married Pat Butcher while Janine's mother June was dying of cancer.

At first Janine started out as a troublesome schoolgirl who tricked Frank into getting her things that she wants and getting her out of trouble. By 1999, Janine's mischief has gone unchanged as she clashes with Frank's second wife Peggy Mitchell and causes her relative Jamie Mitchell to lose his virginity. She also shows little support for her brother Ricky Butcher after his marriage with Bianca Jackson ends in despair following her affair with Dan Sullivan whilst he was in a relationship with Bianca's mother Carol Jackson. In 2000, Janine tells Dan that her father has teamed up with Pat's new husband Roy Evans and Peggy's eldest son Phil Mitchell in perpetrating a motor scam. This leads to Dan grassing them up to the police, which causes many situations thanks to Janine.

That same year, however, Janine finds herself addicted to drugs and forced to do prostitution ever since Phil's cousin Billy Mitchell has gotten involved into doing cocaine for his crime boss Steve Owen without the latter's consent. Troubles further arise when Frank leaves the square after his affair with Pat is exposed, and Peggy leaves Janine homeless for her unchanged attitude. This causes a sympathetic resident, Terry Raymond, to allow Janine to move in with him and she becomes a surrogate daughter to him after his last daughter Tiffany died following a disasters marriage with Phil's brother Grant Mitchell. As time goes on, however, Janine starts using Terry to her advantage until he eventually realizes her endgame and leaves the square before she can exploit him any further.

Janine later plans to marry her stepson Barry Evans for his inheritance after hearing his isolation ever since his wife Natalie Evans had an affair with Ricky. Using her manipulation tactics, Janine tricks Barry into viewing her as his only friend and later persuades his best-friend Paul Trueman to help with her plan. Her plot seems to work when Barry finds out that he is supposedly dying. On the day Janine and Barry get married, however, she is appalled to learn from a phone call that Barry isn't dying after all and he has only 40 or 50 years to stay alive. On New Year's Day 2004, Janine finally tells Barry the truth and verbally insults him despite his pleas for them to continue their marriage. Then in a fit of rage Janine pushes Barry off a cliff, killing him as he collapses to the ground and slowly dies while she watches on without helping him. After Barry's funeral, Janine inherits his estate whilst his infant son Jack is left with nothing. Janine's success builds despite Ricky and Natalie all learning the truth about her killing Barry. But despite their efforts, the police are unable to arrest Janine due to lack of evidence. Paul later finds out that Janine killed Barry as well and attempts to attack her after she taunts him about it, but is restrained by Dennis Rickman in the end.

She then proceeds to get revenge on her enemy Laura Beale by reporting her for benefit fraud, before insulting her in front of Pat's gangland boss Andy Hunter - after which their mutual acquaintance Den Watts calls her a "Nasty Piece of Work". Later on, Laura confronts Janine and they fight that ends with Janine strangling Laura and forcing her to leave. Moments later, Pat confronts Janine to put a stop to her treatment of Laura. It is then Janine confesses to Pat that she killed Barry, which causes Pat to brand Janine "evil" before leaving to find Laura dead after falling down the stairs. After Janine mocks Laura's death, Pat decides to implicate her when the police ask her to collaborate with Janine's testimony; she refuses and Janine is still facing a potential imprisonment for causing Laura's death. Janine begs Pat to change her mind, but Pat is determined to get justice for Barry and watches on with many others as Janine gets arrested and taken into prison for Laura's murder. Pat later finds out that Janine has been denied bail when Den's wife Chrissie Watts asks her for news on the matter. In 2005, Janine is released off-screen after Frank convinces Pat to change her testimony.

When Frank dies in 2008, Janine attends his funeral with Ricky and their family before leaving in frustration that she didn't get Frank's inheritance. Thereafter she resolves to marry a Jewish pensioner named David, but fails after Pat exposes the plot and David dies of a heart attack on the day Janine was supposed to marry him. Janine returns to Walford and continues to spark trouble by causing Bianca's adopted daughter Whitney Dean to undergo stress from being abused and groomed by her father figure Tony King. Moreover, her attempts to forge a romantic bond with Lucas Johnson are unsuccessful.

In 2009, Janine ends up killing Danielle Jones in a road accident and is guilt-ridden when it transpires that Danielle was the long-lost daughter of Ronnie Mitchell - to which Ronnie only discovered just moments before Danielle's death. Nonetheless, she continues to feud with the Mitchell Family and later teams up with their villainous patriarch Archie Mitchell to get revenge by swindling the Queen Victoria public house from them. Janine helps by forging a friendship with Archie's niece Sam Mitchell, then sleeps with Ian Beale before blackmailing him into renouncing Phil's loan of the pub by threatening to reveal Ian's two-timing to his wife Jane Beale. By the time Archie has accomplished his revenge, Janine is plotting with her boyfriend Ryan Malloy to con Archie in a get-quick-rich scheme despite Archie proposing marriage to her. It is then on Christmas Day 2009, however, when Archie betrays Janine by throwing her out of her home after revealing that he was using her and was aware of her plan with Ryan to con him. This could have been a motive for Janine that night when Archie is later murdered by an unknown assailant; Janine is a prime suspect during a police investigation on Archie's murder.

In 2010, Janine marries Ryan and they later divorce when she tries to kill him in revenge for his affair with Stacey Slater. Later on Janine gets into a fight with Stacey and her relative Kat Slater that ends with the trio getting arrested with Pat. While spending the night in a cell, Janine is shocked to learn that Stacey had been raped by Archie. Nonetheless they continue to feud and Janine later finds out that Stacey is Archie's murderer and that her late husband Bradley Branning had been found posthumously guilty for the crime. She exposes this in front of everyone and tricks Stacey into attacking her with a knife. Janine calls the police and frames Stacey for attempted murder, but she escapes with the help from Ryan and fellow resident Max Branning.

In 2011, Janine helps Max's daughter Lauren Branning in her quest to stop Whitney from being sexually groomed by her pimp boyfriend Rob Grayson. That year sees Ryan killing Rob before leaving the square. Afterwards in 2012, Janine begins dating Michael Moon and they marry before she later gives birth to their daughter Scarlett. In 2013, Janine and Michael start a custody battle whilst trying to get Scarlett's nanny Alice Branning to take their side against the other. This ends with Michael attempting to kill Janine, only for Alice to stab him in an attempt to stop him. Michael regains consciousness and tries to grab the knife again, but Janine gets it first and stabs him to death with it in self-defense. Janine later frames Alice for killing Michael and attempts to flee the country, but Bianca's father David Wicks learns the truth and unwittingly helps in having the police take Janine into custody. Janine is charged for Michael's murder, but ends up getting acquitted with Alice for the crime in 2014. While everyone is pleased that Alice is proven innocent, Janine finds herself resented by the entire square and ends up leaving with Scarlett to start anew. In her last scene, Janine spots a family and smiles as she contemplates on targeting them for her money-hungry desires once more.

Over the next few years, Janine has trouble with her daughter's upbringing and this results in Scarlett going into several foster care homes - as Scarlett found out what her mother was really like and thus wanted nothing more to do with her. Eventually she got in touch with her young half-brother Tommy, who is the son of both Michael and Kat respectively. Soon Janine returned to the square to reclaim custody of her daughter, but Kat refused and their feud had resurfaced. In 2022, however, Janine managed to succeed in regaining her daughter's trust and the two reconciled before Scarlett agreed to live with her mother again.

By then, Janine has begun seducing pub landlord, Mick Carter, in a relationship. She supports him and her family after their relative, Tina, is found dead on the square; Tina was murdered by lawyer Gray Atkins after she found out that he domestically abused and later killed his wife Chantelle. This continues even after Gray is arrested for the murders of both Chantelle and Tina, as well as killing fellow resident Kush Kazemi. Later on at Tina's funeral, Janine crosses paths with Mick's estranged wife, Linda, when the latter recognizes the former in their previous encounter - Janine had recently sabotaged Linda's hopes of reconciling with Mick by making her relapse with her alcoholism addiction. Soon, conflict emerges between Janine and Linda that later involves a car crash that Janine causes, only for her to end up implicating Linda as the culprit to cover-up her tracks.

Eventually, Janine manages to sway Mick in proposing to her after successfully tricking him in divorcing Linda. However, it was at this stage that Mick's mother Shirley became increasingly distrustful towards Janine and her ulterior motives. Janine initially manages to turn Mick against Shirley to the point where they get married on the day before Christmas 2022 against Shirley's objections, but it was then Shirley found evidence that exposes Janine's role in Linda's car crash. Shirley later informs Linda about this and the pair expose the truth to Mick, who eventually believes them after Scarlett - having found out her mother's involvement a while ago - collaborates with their story. Mick promptly breaks up with Janine and tells her that she will be going to prison for her crimes.

However, while Mick allows Shirley and Linda to call the police, Janine attempts to flee Walford. Mick and Linda pursue her in a high-speed car chase that leads to the three entering Dover, where Mick obstructs Janine's getaway just as she suffers a mental breakdown. Mick is about to force Janine back to the square when she knocks him out, although Linda jumps in Janine's car just as she is about to make her escape. A scuffle ensues between Janine and Linda that ends with the pair driving off a cliff and into the sea. Mick jumps in the water to rescue Linda, who insists that he save Janine first as she is pregnant with his unborn child. Mick complies and he saves Janine before going back in the water to find Linda. Unfortunately, Mick is unaware that Linda has already made it to safety before he went back in the water to try and find her; Janine reunites with Linda and could only watch as the latter cries out for Mick's name to no avail, leaving the pair assuming that he is dead.

Shortly afterwards, Janine makes her way back to the square while Linda awaits for the authorities to arrive on the square. Janine arrives just as Linda returns to tell Shirley what happened. Thereafter Shirley and Linda both blame Janine for what happened to Mick; they work together to force Janine out of The Queen Vic despite her efforts to retain supremacy. Janine then attempts to get Scarlett to be her alibi for the arriving police, but Scarlett ultimately refuses and disowns her mother. The police then arrive and Janine is arrested for perverting the course of justice; she is later taken away from the square and is most likely that she will get sent to prison for her crimes.

Development[]

In August 2021 it was announced Charlie Brooks would be returning to EastEnders, seven years after she departed Albert Square on March 20th 2014 after getting away with murdering her ex husband Michael Moon on 1st, November, 2013, after he tried to kidnap her daughter: Scarlett Moon.

Her daughter Scarlett Moon contacts her half-brother Tommy Moon, who is the son of Kat and Michael and wonders if she can live with his mother Kat Slater and him due to her being in foster care because of Janine's neglect of her. Kat Slater accepts Scarlett and wants to adopt her, but on 6th, September, 2021, Janine returns pretending to be a doctor using her name in 2008 when she pretended to be Jewish to con a man called David out of his money, Judith Bernstein.

Trivia[]

  • Charlie Brooks (the actress who played Janine Butcher) won "Villain of the Year" at the 2004 British Soap Awards and has been nominated and shortlisted for the same awards alongside various other awards in subsequent ceremonies.
  • She felt guilty for causing the death of Danielle Jones.
  • Janine Butcher has been renowned as one of the best soap villains of all-time.
  • The character made an appearance during the 2021 Children in Need presentation alongside both Emmerdale villain Eric Pollard and Coronation Street protagonist Steve McDonald.

Navigation[]

Advertisement