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.
Phyllis (TV series)
By the middle of the 1976–77 season, the ratings for "Rhoda" had improved but "Phyllis" was still faltering. As a result, "Rhoda" was renewed for an additional season (it would ultimately be canceled in December 1978), but "Phyllis" was dropped by CBS in the spring of 1977, finishing in 40th place that season. The show actually had higher overall ratings than "Rhoda" that season, as well as equal ratings with its parent show, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". The stigma of the deaths of several cast members during the show's run, as well as the ill health of actress Jane Rose, are also said to have been factors in the series' cancellation. The final episode ("And Baby Makes Six") had Bess announcing that she and Mark were expecting their first child. This installment aired Sunday, March 13, 1977. The same week, on Saturday, March 19, Leachman made her last appearance as Phyllis Lindstrom on the final episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show".The opening credits to "Phyllis" parody other television series opening credits of the period, specifically "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", by depicting the character in a variety of local settings while the theme song plays. In addition to scenes shot on location in San Francisco, various scenes from her appearances in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (all of them showing her with a sour disposition) are shown. The theme song parodies spectacular Broadway musical numbers, such as Jerry Herman's title songs to "Hello Dolly" and "Mame", and in the first seconds of the opening sequence, the performers are briefly seen in blackface. In keeping with the sour disposition of the character, the song resolves with a deprecating line on a minor seventh chord, as Phyllis—who has been smiling broadly at the foregoing flattering hyperbole—makes an ugly face at the camera.
In July 1992, a VHS titled "Phyllis—Volume 1" containing the first two episodes of "Phyllis" was released by MTM Home Video; however, a second volume was never released.