Ali Osman

**Ali Osman** was the gambling, Turkish husband of insecure, unfortunate wife Sue Osman and father of Hassan and Little Ali.

In June 1985, Ali lost his first son, Hassan, to cot death. His son's death hit both him and Sue hard. Sue then became desperate for another child following Hassan's death and fell pregnant once more in 1987. Their second son, Ali Osman Jr. - more commonly known as Little Ali - was born in March 1988. Ali and Sue's marriage began to strengthen again following Little Ali's arrival, but in 1989 Sue learnt that Ali had been unfaithful towards her. She got back at Ali by kissing his brother, Mehmet Osman, which infuriated Ali. Sue was later sectioned in May 1989 and Ali took on Little Ali as a single father.

Ali would also often gamble, and whilst he occasionally won, he was more prone to losing. In June 1985, Ali bet his café during a poker match. He won the bet and kept his business. However, in 1988, Ali began betting with Mehmet, and they lost a lot of money to Strokes Wine Bar owner Joanne Francis. Ali then fell into debt and turned to Ian Beale for a loan. He eventually lost the entire café to Ian and fell behind on his flat rental payments to Alan McIntyre. He left Albert Square in October 1989 with nothing after losing his flat.

## Biography

### 1957-1985: The early years

Ali was born in Cyprus in 1957. He continued to live in Cyprus with his family until 1974, when it transpired that he was living as a Turk in a Greek zone. Ali and his family were resettled in a Turkish zone, before deciding to move to the United Kingdom in 1975 after growing tired of having no money and not feeling at home in the area they lived.

Following their move to the UK, Ali met wife-to-be Sue Osman. Ali and Sue began dating and later married in 1982. He became a passionate gambler and would frequently bet money whenever he could. He impregnated Sue in 1983 and she gave birth to their son, Hassan Osman, who was named after Ali's father, in 1984.

### 1985-1989: Marriage to Sue Osman

Ali and Sue were hit with tragedy in June 1985 when their son, Hassan, died a cot death. Whilst Ali grieved the loss of his son, Sue was resistant to her emotions, refusing to accept that their son had died. Ali tried to comfort Sue but was of little help, as she would often neglect him. She then became depressed, but with help from Dr Legg, she later accepted her loss, although it was not long before she became desperate for another child.

Sue then suffered a phantom pregnancy in 1986, which led her to believe that either her or Ali were infertile, despite this not being the case. She then wondered if the environment that her and Ali were living in was causing them to not have a baby, and after visiting the Isle of Dog in 1987 she became determined for them to move away and live there. Ali disagreed however, wanting to remain in Albert Square. This led to the pair having an argument and Sue walking out on Ali, not telling him where she has gone. She later returned to the Square and revealed that she was pregnant, leaving Ali elated.

In March 1988, Sue gave birth to their second son, who they named Ali Osman Jr.. Ali and Sue's relationship began to dramatically improve following the birth of their second son, and things finally started to look up for the pair. However, when Sue began focusing too much on Little Ali, Ali decided to have an affair with local resident Donna Ludlow. Following their one-night stand, Donna decided to blackmail Ali. Ali gave Donna money for a short while before eventually deciding to give her nothing more. This resulted in Donna exposing Ali's infidelity to Sue in 1989. Sue was mortified by what she had heard and decided to get back at Ali by initiating a kiss with Mehmet as he walked in on them. Ali was infuriated upon witnessing his brother kissing Sue, and thinking it was Mehmet who kissed Sue, he brutally fought with him. Soon afterwards, Sue tried to make amends with Ali, although it did not go to plan. Sue ended up fleeing the Square with Little Ali, leaving Ali in the dark over where his wife and son were.

In May 1989, Ali visited Hassan's grave, where he found Sue and Little Ali. He kidnapped Little Ali which resulted in Sue becoming delusional and having to be hospitalised. Following Sue's sectioning, Ali became a full-time single father to Little Ali.

### 1988-1989: Losing everything

Having been a gambler most of his life, nurturing a family and living in Walford proved to be of no dissuasion for Ali in terms of saving his money. In 1988, Ali gambled with Mehmet at Strokes Wine Bar. However, Ali and Mehmet frequently lost on their bets to the owner, Joanne Francis, which resulted in them falling into debt. Ali turned to his employee, Ian Beale, for a way out of the debts, asking him for money. Ian agreed to give Ali a loan with added interest.

After losing Sue and struggling to balance his work life with his personal life, Ali began focusing more on Little Ali and less on his business, which resulted in him becoming unable to pay the rent increase. Not wanting to give the business up, Ali set fire to the café in a ditch attempt at getting insurance money. His plan was unsuccessful however, and Ian then took ownership of the café himself.

Having left work at the café, Ali bagged himself a job on respected landlord Frank Butcher's car lot. However, taking on the job meant Ali had to get childcare for his son. When he was unable to secure Little Ali a place at the local nursery, he decided to send him to a childminder who had been advertising in the shop window. Michelle Fowler was unsure of Ali's decision to send his son to a childminder who had been self-advertising, as he did not know her background. Ali ignored Michelle's advice though and proceeded to take Little Ali to the childminder. He was quick to regret his decision though when the childminder turned out to be neglecting the children she was supposed to be looking after. Ali then took his son to work with him at the car lot, but Frank was unimpressed by this and told Ali he had to stop bringing his child to work. Ali ultimately decided to quit working at the car lot and attempted to restart his minicab services - although he was unable to when his car was then stolen.

With no work and no income, Ali then began falling behind on rental payments for his flat. His landlord, Alan McIntyre, agreed to a poker match which Ali suggested in order to try and raise the money to pay him, but when Ali lost all the money in the game, he was evicted from his home. Frank informed Ali's father of what had been going on, which led to Ali's father getting some family members to collect him from Albert Square and take him away. Ali smashed his flat windows with a crowbar before leaving, as the reality hit him that he had lost everything.

## Background information

* Ali was one of the original set of twenty-three characters in *EastEnders* and appeared in the first episode.
* Original scriptwriter Peter Batt claims that the character of Ali Osman was based on him and his gambling habits.
* Ali was originally going to be called Chris. His name was changed when show co-creator Tony Holland realised that he had given a Christian name to a Muslim character.
* Casting for Ali Osman proved to be a challenge, as there were only three Turkish-speaking actors in London at the time auditions went out. The other actor who was considered for the role of Ali was Haluk Bilginer, who quickly went on to appear as Ali's brother, Mehmet Osman.

## First and last lines

"Reg?" (First line)

"You pig!" (Final line)