List of EastEnders characters (1985)
Michelle Fowler (also Holloway), played by Susan Tully from 1985 to 1995 and Jenna Russell since 2016, is the daughter of Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher) and Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard). Although she is one of the brighter people in Walford, that does not stop Michelle making some huge mistakes during her time in Albert Square. Michelle has a habit of choosing the wrong men and her stubborn nature means that she rarely accepts anyone's help or listens to good advice. She is tough, feisty, determined, outspoken and never afraid to defend herself or her beliefs. Early on in the series, the character of Michelle becomes central to the programme and is the focus of a controversial storyline involving her teenage pregnancy. Press interest in the show escalated to "record levels" as journalists continuously tried to predict who had fathered Michelle's baby. In whodunnit fashion, the audience had been kept in the dark as to the real identity of the father and were given teasers implicating several residents on The Square. The audience finally discovered the culprit in episode 66 of the programme, October 1985. The episode was written by series co-creator/script editor Tony Holland and directed by co-creator/producer Julia Smith, and was considered to be a landmark episode in the show's history. Four possible suspects are seen leaving the Square in the early half of the episode: Tony Carpenter (Oscar James), Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih), Andy O'Brien (Ross Davidson) and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). As Michelle waits by their rendezvous point a car pulls up and finally the fluffy white legs of Roly the poodle bound out of the car, and give it all away: Den Watts is the man meeting Michelle and it was he who had fathered her baby. The rest of the episode consists of just one long scene, where Den and Michelle discuss whether or not to keep the baby. Up to that time it was the longest scene ever done in a soap-opera, lasting fifteen minutes.
Lisa Fowler
When asked if she would return in 2004, Benjamin said, "I loved Lisa. She was a great character and I loved playing all those story lines. It was a wonderful opportunity for me but all that angst and that drama can sometimes get to you. She hasn't been killed off. Loads of characters are revived and brought back but I don't know if it's something I'd want to do again at the moment. It still feels like only yesterday I was there and it's good to kind of recharge your batteries and get out there and do other things. But I love the show and I’d never say never! And I liked playing Lisa. I thought she was a great character so you just don’t know."
In April 2010, it was reported that Lisa would return for a single episode later in the year in a bid to retrieve Louise from Phil, who gained custody of her earlier in the year. Benjamin said of her return: "I'm really looking forward to returning to "EastEnders" for this episode. It will be great to see some familiar faces and work alongside old friends again." Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood commented "Lucy's character Lisa was responsible for one of the biggest cliffhanger episodes in "EastEnders", so it's a real treat to have her back on screen," while a spokesperson for the show added "Lisa Fowler was a major part of Phil's life – she knows him as well as anyone, so she won't be happy about him looking after his daughter. With their history, you know that this storyline is going to be an explosive episode in the Mitchells' history." The episode was broadcast on 5 August 2010. Discussing her brief return, Benjamin said, "What I liked about doing this storyline was that it did explain where Lisa had been. When I was watching it, I was thinking 'Where's her mother? Where is Lisa? It's just ridiculous'. But it does make sense. She is mentally unstable and she does have times like that and the little girl is old enough to make her own decisions and say, 'I want to live with my dad now'. So she had to let her go. I liked that I was able to come back and defend myself because Lisa was kind of being slaughtered in the Square for being a rubbish mum!"