bev williams, played by diane langton, is the mother of cindy beale (michelle collins). bev is originally called lucy and cindy names her daughter after her in 1994, however from 1998 the character is renamed to bev (the same occurs with cindy's father, who is referred to as "edwin" in 1989, and "tom" thereafter). during the 1980s, she owns a hat stall on turpin road market, which cindy runs for her in 1988. bev and her husband then move to devon and her pitch on the market is taken over by laurie bates (gary powell) in 1989. bev remains unseen until february 1990, when she and her husband attend their grandson steven beale's (edward farrell) christening. at the end of 1990, cindy, simon wicks (nick berry) and steven move away from london to stay with bev in devon.