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.
Mitchell family
One of the Mitchell's, and "EastEnders"', biggest storylines occurred in 2001, when Phil was at the centre of the Who Shot Phil? storyline. Phil had become a darker and more menacing character during the previous year, and five characters were suspected of being responsible. This storyline received a lot of press in newspapers and the media, with many people placing bets on who the attempted killer was. Several outcomes were allegedly filmed An estimated 22 million viewers watched "EastEnders" on April 5, 2001 to find out that Lisa Shaw (Lucy Benjamin) — Phil's former girlfriend — was the culprit. The episode caused the third-largest power surge on record It was later revealed that Lisa was pregnant with Phil's child, Louise. Lisa later took Louise and emigrated to Portugal after her marriage to Mark Fowler (Todd Carty) broke down. Phil followed her, and returned with Louise in October 2002; Lisa was then reported missing, leading the police to suspect Phil of murdering her. Jill Halfpenny was introduced as Kate Morton, Phil's third wife, as a result, betraying her job as an undercover cop due her feelings for Phil. Phil married Kate in 2003 but Lisa made a surprise return on their wedding day, scheming to kill Phil despite her appearance as a reformed character. After convincing Lisa not to kill Phil, Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) helped her take her revenge by setting Phil up for armed robbery; Phil was arrested in 2003. This led to McFadden's departure from the show for two years, as he escaped prison and went on the run from the police.