Роза ди Марко: Персонаж сериала «EastEnders»

Fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders

Rosa di Marco is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Louise Jameson from 29 January 1998 to 3 August 2000. She is the mother of Beppe (Michael Greco), Gianni (Marc Bannerman), Teresa (Leila Birch) and Nicky di Marco (Carly Hillman). Rosa died off screen in 2002, to coincide with her son Beppe's departure from the square.

Rosa first appears when George Palmer (Paul Moriarty) and Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) attend her husband's funeral in January 1998 and later moves to Walford in February 1998 along with the rest of her family. She sets up her own restaurant called Giuseppe's, named after her late husband. George had helped set this up. It was later revealed that she and George had a fling many years ago, during the time her husband Giuseppe was in prison. This leads George to believe that Rosa's son Gianni could be his son rather than Giuseppe's. This shock leads to Gianni breaking up with George's daughter Annie Palmer (Nadia Sawalha), after fearing they had been having an incestuous affair. DNA tests later confirm that Gianni is Giuseppe's son, which relieves both Rosa and Gianni. Jeff Healy (Leslie Schofield) has a crush on her, but Rosa rejects his advances. Nicky later gets food poisoning from the local café and Rosa tries to have it closed down. Rosa later faces financial trouble with the restaurant and George offers her help, which she accepts. After Nicky claims she was assaulted by her mathematics tutor Rod Morris (Forbes Masson) and later admits she did not tell the whole truth (but was still assaulted) and then disowns the family when they said she was lying, Rosa decides the whole family should leave Walford to move to Leicester and, except for Beppe, the entire family leaves Walford in August 2000. Rosa suffers a heart attack two years later, at the age of 50. Beppe then joins the rest of his family in Leicester, from where he telephones Lynne Slater (Elaine Lordan) to tell her Rosa has died and that he won't be returning to Walford.

The Italian di Marco family were introduced early in 1998 by Series Producer Jane Harris. The di Marcos were a family of eight, consisting of grandparents Bruno and Luisa (Leon Lissek and Stella Tanner), their daughter in law Rosa, her children Beppe, Gianni, Teresa and Nicky, and Beppe's young son Joe (Jake Kyprianou). They were heralded as the "family that would rival the Mitchells", one of the most successful and long running families to have been featured in EastEnders. The di Marcos "landed with an almighty thud in January [1998], turning out in force for the funeral of patriarch Giuseppe", who was Rosa's husband and an old business associate of the character George Palmer (Paul Moriarty). The following month, the family moved to the area in which the soap is set, Walford, to run an Italian restaurant, which was named Giuseppe's.

The di Marcos remained with the show as a unit until 2000, when the new executive producer, John Yorke, decided to cull the majority of the family. All except Beppe (Michael Greco) and his son Joe (Jake Kyprianou) were written out. They were reportedly "slaughtered because of a shortage of ideas for what to do with them". However, an official BBC spokesperson at the time commented: "These changes are just part of [John Yorke's] plans to revamp the series and give it a new look." The cuts paved the way for the arrival of the "hugely popular" Slater family. Beppe and Joe remained until 2002, when they were axed too. Jameson said she was "absolutely gutted" about getting axed from EastEnders. She commented: "I'll really miss Rosa. It's like parting from a lover. I can't help thinking that she's not quite played out. A fling would have been nice with Frank, or even Roy when he was on Viagra and rampant." Years later, Jameson complained about how exit was handled, saying that she was "annoyed" by the way it was announced, adding "I was only told the night before it appeared in the papers. I thought they could have run it by me first so I could tell my family. It wasn't respectful."

The di Marcos are now deemed as something of a failure for EastEnders. Since their departure, the family has even been mocked in an EastEnders official book, entitled EastEnders 20 Years In Albert Square. In the book, the author, Rupert Smith, writes: "Nobody really knew what to do with the di Marco family, who had been languishing in the pizza restaurant without a decent storyline between them. Finally, there was nothing else for it: the di Marcos would have to go. All of them it was as if they had never been". The di Marcos have been dismissed as "unconvincing characters".