Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Susan Tully from the show's first episode on 19 February 1985 up until the character's departure on 26 October 1995. She returned on 24 December 2016, with Jenna Russell taking over the role, before leaving the serial once again on 17 April 2018. Over the course of her original stint, Michelle displayed a habit of choosing the wrong men and a stubborn nature to the point where she rarely accepted help or listened to good advice. Despite this, she is portrayed as a determined and outspoken character who has never been afraid to defend herself or her beliefs. This is explored through Michelle's longstanding companionship with her best friend Sharon Watts.
In her first major storyline, Michelle ended up getting pregnant aged 16 and it was soon revealed that the father of her baby was in fact Sharon's adopted father Den Watts. The follow-up of this revelation explored Michelle's secret relationship with Den prior to her giving birth to their daughter, Vicki Fowler. Other storylines have included a problematic marriage to Lofty Holloway ; helping nurse her aunt Kathy Beale back to health following the latter's rape ordeal from her boss James Willmott-Brown ; briefly falling out with Sharon after the truth of Vicki's parentage and Michelle's dalliance with Den is exposed; becoming the mistress of Danny Whiting ; and getting stalked by her ex-boyfriend Jack Woodman.
Soon afterwards, Michelle was embroiled in an intense feud with her nemesis and Sharon's hardman husband Grant Mitchell. The rivalry between them escalated in light of events that saw Michelle display opposition towards Grant over his domestic violence towards Sharon, getting shot by his psychotic old army friend Dougie Briggs during a hostage siege at the Queen Victoria public house, becoming the first before anybody else to learn about Sharon's affair with Grant's brother Phil, coping with Sharon's exit as a result of her marriage with Grant falling apart, and having a one-night stand with Grant during a four-hander episode before she is later revealed to be pregnant with his baby.
Following the recast to Russell in 2016, Michelle's storylines revolved around her having had an illegal relationship with her American student Preston Cooper ; a love triangle involving her niece Bex Fowler and Preston; stealing Phil's car in a drunken stupor that results in her crashing the vehicle into the local chip shop; having to take care of Phil's daughter Louise Mitchell and Sharon's son Denny Rickman on her own when the couple later go on holiday; and being hassled by her old acquaintance Tom Bailey over his scheme to defraud her.
Creation
Michelle Fowler is one of the original 23 characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. Michelle is a member of the first family of EastEnders, the Beales and Fowlers and Holland took the inspiration for some of the series' earliest characters from his own London family and background. Michelle's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.Holland and Smith wanted the character to be feisty and emotionally strong. They had been introduced to the young actress Susan Tully when they attended an open evening at the Anna Scher Theatre School in North London. They were extremely impressed with her "natural and unaffected" acting abilities and felt she displayed hidden depths of emotion. Despite their interest, both Holland and Smith were hesitant about casting her because she was already widely known for playing the student Suzanne Ross in the children's television show Grange Hill. Nevertheless, she was asked to audition for the role of Michelle and was informed of the intention to make the character a pregnant schoolgirl. Tully liked the story and liked the fact that the character was going to keep the baby, but what interested her most was the opportunity to allow the character to grow up on screen, something she was unable to do with her Grange Hill character. Although Julia Smith initially feared that Tully was too well known to play the part, they eventually decided to use this fact to their advantage. Tully had a huge following from Grange Hill, and they felt that those fans would be likely to tune in to EastEnders, so she was offered the part.
Development
Early in the series, the character of Michelle became central to the programme and was the focus of a controversial storyline involving her teenage pregnancy. Press interest in the show escalated to "record levels" as journalists continuously tried to guess who had fathered her baby. In whodunit fashion, the audience had been kept in the dark as to the father's identity and were offered teasers implicating several Square residents. The culprit was finally exposed in October 1985 on episode 66. Written by series co-creator/script editor Tony Holland and directed by co-creator/producer Julia Smith, it was considered to be a landmark episode in the show's history. 4 possible suspects were seen leaving the Square in the episode's first half: Tony Carpenter, Ali Osman, Andy O'Brien, and Den Watts. As Michelle waited by their rendezvous point, a car pulled up and the fluffy white legs of Roly the poodle bounded out of the car, revealing that the man who was meeting Michelle, the father of her baby, was Den Watts. The rest of the episode was one long scene of Den and Michelle discussing whether or not to keep the baby. Until that time, that 15-minute scene was the longest ever done on a soap opera. Writer Colin Brake has suggested that this was a bold experiment for a series that had established a reputation, in its first 8 months, for being fast-moving and rapidly cut. It relied on only 1 story and 2 actors to hold the audience for over half an episode. Tony Holland's handling of the awkward scene between a teenage girl and her best friend's father is considered one of the highlights of the programme's first year. The finishing touch was the use of alternative end-title music, "Julia's Theme", a variation of the usual one which replaced the dramatic drum beats with a longer, gentler piano-solo introduction.The following year Michelle and Lofty's church wedding was another target of press speculation before the episodes aired. According to Holland and Smith, they wanted to know two things: the design of Michelle's dress, and whether she'd jilt Lofty at the altar. The wedding was shot in a church in private grounds to which the press would not have access. But the press still assembled in large numbers, and security people had to be hired to keep camera people away from the story action. Huge lorries were parked in front of the church's entrance so nothing could be seen, and the cast arrived in disguise. Finally strong lights were shone into the eyes of the journalists and photographers, making them angry, and they tried to gain access to the grounds by breaking the security barrier and telling the production team that they were extras needed inside the church. The entire episode, written by David Ashton, was devoted to Lofty and Michelle's wedding day. Brake has said that at the time it was deemed one of the best cliffhangers of the series, with the episode ending as the bride arrives at the church door and hesitates. The birth of Michelle and Den's daughter, and Michelle and Lofty's eventual marriage, helped to consolidate a fast-growing audience. According to Holland and Smith, "The young couple had come together under enormously difficult circumstances". The subsequent storylines were built to keep the audience guessing about the future of their relationship. Had they married for the wrong reasons? Would the relationship survive? What would happen if Lofty wanted his own child?
Michelle did become pregnant by Lofty, and in another controversial storyline she had an abortion behind Lofty's back in January 1988. The episode, written by Tony McHale, was screened on the same day that a private member's bill was discussed in the House of Commons, which sought to reduce the number of weeks following conception in which an abortion can be carried out.
An April 1989 two-hander episode in which Michelle confessed Vicki's paternity to her best friend Sharon Watts returned to a model established by the first Den-and-Angie solo episode, with revelations and major character changes to an important relationship. According to Brake, this episode was held in high regard by the programme's producers, directors, and writers and gave Tully and Dean the chance to demonstrate how much they had grown as actresses during their 4 years on the show.
Michelle went on to feature in controversial storylines such as her daughter's kidnapping, a shooting, and a brief liaison with her best friend's ex-husband and her own nemesis Grant Mitchell — which left her pregnant. This heralded one of the soap's best-kept secrets as Grant never discovered that Michelle had his child. Michelle remained central to the programme for 10 years and became one of the most popular characters of her time. She was written out of it in 1995 when Tully decided to move on. Tully since took up directing, and directed several episodes of EastEnders.
Reintroduction
In May 2016, it was reported that the outgoing executive producer of EastEnders, Dominic Treadwell-Collins, had tried to get Tully to return to the show, saying " emailed back and forth, but she's a director now. I briefly considered a recast, but it just didn't sit right. And you never know, maybe someone else can woo Sue Tully to come back." He added, "Michelle carries the one unexploded secret—the child. But there are ways around that! So, yes, it was one of my original ideas—bringing Michelle in and the secrets she brings. I love secrets." Instead, Treadwell-Collins introduced Michelle's son with Grant, Mark Fowler, played by Ned Porteous. Tully had also been approached several times in the preceding 20 years to return to EastEnders, but had rejected each offer. These included offers to return for the funerals of Arthur, Pauline and Mark, as well as the weddings of Mark and Martin.On 23 December 2016, a day before her return on in Episode 5408, it was reported that Michelle would be returning, but that the part had been recast to Jenna Russell. Of her casting, Russell said: "It is a great honour to play such an iconic character. I know the audience loved Michelle Fowler so much, and even though she hasn't been on our screen for 20 years, she's very much in the fans' psyche. When I used to watch EastEnders all those years ago, she was one of my favourite characters. I'm extremely excited for what is in store for Michelle." Executive producer Sean O'Connor said he is "thrilled to have secured Jenna Russell to play Michelle Fowler, one of the show's most celebrated characters" and "the Square really has missed her over the past twenty years." O'Connor added, "Jenna was always in mind when I first started planning for Michelle's return". O'Connor also said Michelle is "still flawed, complicated and infuriating after two decades away, but still loveable all the same. It's going to be appointment TV watching Michelle's car crash of a life unravel all over again."
O'Connor also said Letitia Dean was "absolutely thrilled, because she and Jenna were in the same year at drama school together as children. So we're articulating a 30 year old relationship between these two women, and that's something that they already have." and "there's a genuine affectionate recognition in that from Adam for Jenna, because they've known each other for such a long time. Again, it shows—I think that for Jenna, being part of EastEnders has been the destiny of her career." Tully "gave the idea" of recasting Michelle "her blessing, and it was really delightful when she did." Tully was also involved in telling O'Connor, Russell and the writing team about Smith and Holland's original ideas for Michelle.