List of EastEnders characters (1994)
Geoff Barnes is played by David Roper. Geoff is introduced as a love interest for the long running character, Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully), in 1994. He is much older than Michelle, and their age difference causes most of the major problems in their relationship. They plan to marry, but in the end Geoff realises that Michelle doesn't really love him. He ends the relationship and moves to Scotland in April 1995, but returns in September as part of Michelle's exit storyline. His last appearance is in October 1995.
EastEnders
As the show progressed into the 1990s, "EastEnders" still featured hard-hitting issues such as Mark Fowler revealing he was HIV positive in 1991, the death of his wife Gill from an AIDS-related illness in 1992, murder, adoption, abortion, Peggy Mitchell's battle with breast cancer, and Phil Mitchell's alcoholism and violence towards wife Kathy. Mental health issues were confronted in 1996 when 16-year-old Joe Wicks developed schizophrenia following the off-screen death of his sister in a car crash. The long-running storyline of Mark Fowler's HIV was so successful in raising awareness that in 1999, a survey by the National Aids Trust found teenagers got most of their information about HIV from the soap, though one campaigner noted that in some ways the storyline was not reflective of what was happening at the time as the condition was more common among the gay community. Still, heterosexual Mark struggled with various issues connected to his HIV status, including public fears of contamination, a marriage breakdown connected to his inability to have children and the side effects of combination therapies.