Peter Birch

Peter Birch is the son of Lily Butterfield.

For most of his life he believed he was the son of Edna Birch. However, in November 2006 he learns that Edna is his aunt and his mother is Edna's sister Lily Butterfield. When he was born, Lily was single and incapable of taking care of him so Edna and her husband Harold brought him up. Edna is forced to tell him the truth when she is blackmailed by Tom King. Peter takes this very badly and has no contact with Edna afterwards.

In September 2008, Peter reappears to secretly see Lily - without Edna's knowledge. He tells Lily that he is badly in debt, but Lily is unable to help. However, weeks later she and her colleagues win a car worth £15,000. Her offers Peter her share, £3000, but he makes her feel guilty and reluctantly gives Peter the ticket so he can claim the full £15,000. The missing ticket is soon noticed, and eventually Lily confesses to Edna what happened. Edna then asks Peter to return the money, but he refuses, so Edna takes the money out of her own savings so Lily can pay her colleagues back. She does not tell Lily that the money was hers, not Peter's - although she does not later find out.