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.
Rose Tyler
The British media had regularly released conflicting reports about how long Piper would be staying with the programme. In March 2006, she claimed that she would continue on "Doctor Who" into its third series in 2007. The BBC announced on 15 June 2006 that Piper was to depart in the final episode of the second series, "Doomsday". Piper's decision to leave had been taken a year previously but remained a secret until news of her departure became public. Following "Doomsday", Piper as Rose was greenlit to be the star of the spin-off series "", set in her parallel universe and to air as a bank holiday special, but Davies deemed the concept "a spin-off too far" after "Torchwood" and "The Sarah Jane Adventures". Piper's eventual return during series four was planned during filming of the second series; in January 2006, she made a pact promising to return to film several more episodes. Davies and Piper cited her commitment to other projects—specifically, her roles as Belle de Jour in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl", the lead character in the BBC adaptations of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart quartet, and Fanny Price in the ITV adaptation of "Mansfield Park"—as explanations behind her departure appearing permanent. Davies' successor as executive producer, Steven Moffat praised the creation and casting of the character in advance of the series' 50th anniversary in 2013. He stated that the character of Rose helped secure the return of the show by allowing "an audience who would not naturally have watched "Doctor Who"" to become invested in the show. Moffat suggested that during the first two years of the revival "Doctor Who" "was Billie Piper’s show" and that this has given her an "iconic status" above other "Doctor Who" companions.