Michelle Fowler

Michelle Fowler (also Holloway) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Susan Tully from the show's first episode on 19 February 1985 up until the character's departure on 26 October 1995. She returned on 24 December 2016, with Jenna Russell taking over the role, before leaving the serial once again on 17 April 2018. Over the course of her original stint, Michelle displayed a habit of choosing the wrong men and a stubborn nature to the point where she rarely accepted help or listened to good advice. Despite this, she is portrayed as a determined and outspoken character who has never been afraid to defend herself or her beliefs. This is explored through Michelle's longstanding companionship with her best friend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean).

In her first major storyline, Michelle ended up getting pregnant aged 16 and it was soon revealed that the father of her baby was in fact Sharon's adopted father Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). The follow-up of this revelation explored Michelle's secret relationship with Den prior to her giving birth to their daughter, Vicki Fowler (Scarlett Alice Johnson). Other storylines have included a problematic marriage to Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt); helping nurse her aunt Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) back to health following the latter's rape ordeal from her boss James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde); briefly falling out with Sharon after the truth of Vicki's parentage and Michelle's dalliance with Den is exposed; becoming the mistress of Danny Whiting (Saul Jephcott); and getting stalked by her ex-boyfriend Jack Woodman (James Gilbey).

Soon afterwards, Michelle was embroiled in an intense feud with her nemesis and Sharon's hardman husband Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp). The rivalry between them escalated in light of events that saw Michelle display opposition towards Grant over his domestic violence towards Sharon, getting shot by his psychotic old army friend Dougie Briggs (Max Gold) during a hostage siege at the Queen Victoria public house, becoming the first before anybody else to learn about Sharon's affair with Grant's brother Phil (Steve McFadden), coping with Sharon's exit as a result of her marriage with Grant falling apart, and having a one-night stand with Grant during a four-hander episode before she is later revealed to be pregnant with his baby.

Following the recast to Russell in 2016, Michelle's storylines revolved around her having had an illegal relationship with her American student Preston Cooper (Martin Anzor); a love triangle involving her niece Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield) and Preston; stealing Phil's car in a drunken stupor that results in her crashing the vehicle into the local chip shop; having to take care of Phil's daughter Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper) and Sharon's son Denny Rickman (Bleu Landau) on her own when the couple later go on holiday; and being hassled by her old acquaintance Tom Bailey (Daniel Casey) over his scheme to defraud her.

Michelle Fowler is one of the original 23 characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Michelle is a member of the first family of EastEnders, the Beales and Fowlers and Holland took the inspiration for some of the series' earliest characters from his own London family and background. Michelle's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.

Holland and Smith wanted the character to be feisty and emotionally strong. They had been introduced to the young actress Susan Tully when they attended an open evening at the Anna Scher Theatre School in North London. They were extremely impressed with her "natural and unaffected" acting abilities and felt she displayed hidden depths of emotion. Despite their interest, both Holland and Smith were hesitant about casting her because she was already widely known for playing the student Suzanne Ross in the children's television show Grange Hill. Nevertheless, she was asked to audition for the role of Michelle and was informed of the intention to make the character a pregnant schoolgirl. Tully liked the story and liked the fact that the character was going to keep the baby, but what interested her most was the opportunity to allow the character to grow up on screen, something she was unable to do with her Grange Hill character. Although Julia Smith initially feared that Tully was too well known to play the part, they eventually decided to use this fact to their advantage. Tully had a huge following from Grange Hill, and they felt that those fans would be likely to tune in to EastEnders, so she was offered the part.

Early in the series, the character of Michelle became central to the programme and was the focus of a controversial storyline involving her teenage pregnancy. Press interest in the show escalated to "record levels" as journalists continuously tried to guess who had fathered her baby. In whodunit fashion, the audience had been kept in the dark as to the father's identity and were offered teasers implicating several Square residents. The culprit was finally exposed in October 1985 on episode 66. Written by series co-creator/script editor Tony Holland and directed by co-creator/producer Julia Smith, it was considered to be a landmark episode in the show's history. 4 possible suspects were seen leaving the Square in the episode's first half: Tony Carpenter (Oscar James), Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih), Andy O'Brien (Ross Davidson), and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). As Michelle waited by their rendezvous point, a car pulled up and the fluffy white legs of Roly the poodle bounded out of the car, revealing that the man who was meeting Michelle, the father of her baby, was Den Watts. The rest of the episode was one long scene of Den and Michelle discussing whether or not to keep the baby. Until that time, that 15-minute scene was the longest ever done on a soap opera. Writer Colin Brake has suggested that this was a bold experiment for a series that had established a reputation, in its first 8 months, for being fast-moving and rapidly cut. It relied on only 1 story and 2 actors to hold the audience for over half an episode. Tony Holland's handling of the awkward scene between a teenage girl and her best friend's father is considered one of the highlights of the programme's first year. The finishing touch was the use of alternative end-title music, "Julia's Theme", a variation of the usual one which replaced the dramatic drum beats with a longer, gentler piano-solo introduction.

The following year Michelle and Lofty's (Tom Watt) church wedding was another target of press speculation before the episodes aired. According to Holland and Smith, they wanted to know two things: the design of Michelle's dress, and whether she'd jilt Lofty at the altar. The wedding was shot in a church in private grounds to which the press would not have access. But the press still assembled in large numbers, and security people had to be hired to keep camera people away from the story action. Huge lorries were parked in front of the church's entrance so nothing could be seen, and the cast arrived in disguise. Finally strong lights were shone into the eyes of the journalists and photographers, making them angry, and they tried to gain access to the grounds by breaking the security barrier and telling the production team that they were extras needed inside the church. The entire episode, written by David Ashton, was devoted to Lofty and Michelle's wedding day. Brake has said that at the time it was deemed one of the best cliffhangers of the series, with the episode ending as the bride arrives at the church door and hesitates. The birth of Michelle and Den's daughter, and Michelle and Lofty's eventual marriage, helped to consolidate a fast-growing audience. According to Holland and Smith, "The young couple had come together under enormously difficult circumstances". The subsequent storylines were built to keep the audience guessing about the future of their relationship. Had they married for the wrong reasons? Would the relationship survive? What would happen if Lofty wanted his own child?