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.
List of EastEnders characters (2012)
While Sharon is on holiday with Phil, Sharon's best friend, Michelle Fowler (Jenna Russell), looks after Dennis and Louise. In March 2017, Dennis sees Michelle and 17-year-old Preston Cooper (Martin Anzor) kissing so starts blackmailing Michelle into buying him things and letting him stay off school. Michelle is furious when she finds out Dennis bought a video game using her credit card and Dennis brands her a paedophile, resulting in a slap from Michelle. Louise does not witness this but catches Michelle calling Dennis a "brat". Dennis demands £100 from Michelle to keep quiet about her hitting him, but she refuses and he kicks her. When Louise finds him, she tries to get through to him over arguing with Michelle and he reveals that Michelle and Preston are having an affair. The affair is revealed which leads to Michelle crashing Phil's car and Sharon returning and convincing Preston to return to the United States in April 2017. Sharon then tells Dennis and Louise to be nice to Michelle. When Louise has a party with her friends, Madison Drake and Alexandra D'Costa (Seraphina Beh and Sydney Craven), Dennis turns up and Louise lets him stay on the condition he keeps quiet about them having alcohol. Louise gets drunk after her drink is spiked and is sick, and as she staggers outside, she coughs up blood and collapses, which panics Dennis and those around Louise. In July 2017, Dennis and Will Mitchell (Freddie Phillips) plan to throw eggs at Keegan Baker (Zack Morris), but accidentally hit his half-sister, Bernadette Taylor (Clair Norris). Keegan gets into Dennis's house and tells them Bernadette is pregnant. Dennis and Will apologise and Keegan attempts to force Dennis to smoke a cigarette, but is caught and thrown out by Michelle. After this, Dennis forgives Michelle for hitting him. In August 2017, Sharon and Phil receive a date for Dennis's adoption hearing. Dennis asks Phil if he wants him to change his surname to Mitchell upon his adoption as he wants to keep his current surname, which Phil does not mind.