joe wallace, played by jason rush, is a young, gay chef who is hiv-positive. he arrives in walford in july 1991 and gets a job at ian beale's (adam woodyatt) restaurant, the meal machine. he encourages mark fowler (todd carty) to tell his parents that he is hiv-positive. when ian discovers that joe has hiv, he sacks him and disinfects his whole kitchen. joe then leaves walford to live with his parents in cowley and is the last person to see eddie royle (michael melia) alive before eddie is murdered by nick cotton (john altman) in september that year.