Stacey Slater
Stacey Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lacey Turner. She first appears in episode 2826, originally broadcast on 1 November 2004. The character is introduced as a feisty and troublesome teenager and extension to the established Slater family. She was created by scriptwriter Tony Jordan with Turner in mind. Producers explored the character's backstory with the introduction of her mother, Jean Slater, who has bipolar disorder. They then paired Stacey with Bradley Branning and writers developed a series of problems for their marriage, including an abortion and Stacey's scandalous affair with Bradley's father, Max Branning. In 2009, the character was placed in an issue-led storyline when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder; the show worked with various charities to develop the story. Writers also incorporated Stacey in the "Who Killed Archie?" plot and revealed her as his killer in a live episode, which was followed by a two-hander episode between Stacey and Max. Stacey became pregnant by Ryan Malloy and gave birth to their daughter Lily Slater. This led to a feud between Stacey and Ryan's wife Janine Malloy, and culminated in Stacey fleeing Walford on the episode broadcast on 25 December 2010, to avoid imprisonment after Janine stabbed herself and framed Stacey for attempted murder. Turner's return was announced on 19 December 2013, and Stacey reappears in the episode originally broadcast on 7 February 2014 before departing again on 24 March 2014. She made a permanent return on 1 September 2014. On 12 May 2025, Turner announced she would depart the role later in the year to focus on her family and new work opportunities; she revealed she was open to returning at a future date. Stacey departed on 2 October 2025, with Turner affirming she would eventually return to the role.
Following her return, Stacey embarked on an on-off relationship with Martin Fowler. She became involved in another issue-led story exploring postpartum psychosis in 2016, following the birth of her son Arthur Fowler. She then married Martin and gave birth to their daughter Hope Fowler. Turner went on maternity leave in August 2019 and prior to her exit, Stacey became involved in a custody battle with Kush Kazemi and a feud with her cousin Kat Slater. After attacking Phil Mitchell, Stacey flees the square and is off-screen for thirteen months, making a cameo appearance on 28 October 2019 in between before fully returning in September 2020. Turner took a second maternity leave in April 2021 and Stacey departed for six months, after being falsely imprisoned for GBH. While in prison, she divorced Martin and married her female in-mate Eve Unwin to secure her release from prison. She made two cameo appearances on 16 and 20 September 2021, before returning permanently on 25 October. Stacey's storylines since her return have focused on supporting Jean through another bipolar episode and discovering that her daughter Lily is pregnant at the age of 12 amidst financial difficulties, causing Stacey to sell lingerie photos of herself for money on SecretCam, an OnlyFans-style website. Stacey is later stalked by her subscriber who is revealed to be Lily's tutor Theo Hawthorne. Theo attempts to rape Stacey but she is saved by her cousin Freddie Slater ; Stacey and Eve try to protect Freddie from going to prison by framing Theo for attempted GBH, but Theo is eventually sent down for his crimes. On Christmas Day 2023, Stacey helps to cover up the murder of Keanu Taylor during "The Six" storyline, and later has an affair with Jack Branning.
The character has proven popular, and Turner has won over thirty awards for her portrayal, the most for any actor or soap in the UK. Her accolades include four National Television Awards, six British Soap Awards and eight Inside Soap Awards.
Creation
In September 2004, an official BBC press release announced an addition to the popular Slater family; the new "feisty female" named Stacey Slater, Charlie Slater's teenage great-niece and cousin-once-removed to Lynne, Kat, Belinda and Little Mo, and second cousin to Zoe. According to the report, Stacey "looks like a Slater and shares the same family attitude but with one differenceStacey is one hell of a bitch! She is going to be trouble!"16-year-old actress Lacey Turner was cast in the role. Turner had originally auditioned for a part in the Miller family, but was given the part of Stacey instead. Commenting on her role, Turner said "I was speechless when I found out that I had been cast as Stacey Slater especially as I knew I would be working with Jessie Wallace who is my favourite actress. I've watched the show since I was about four years old, and I used to live in a house that backed onto the EastEnders set so I used to watch them filming all the time. I always dreamt of being on the show and so I can't believe that I've fulfilled my greatest ambition!" She added, "I'm not like Stacey at all although I love playing her! She's a real challenge I think people are going to love to hate her like they did with Janine Butcher."
EastEnders scriptwriter Tony Jordan revealed that he created the character with Turner in mind: "I first met Lacey when she came to a casting workshop for the Miller family... She was leaning against a wall and looked just like Kat Slater, played by Wallace. I thought she would be perfect for the Slater family so I wrote in Stacey's character especially for Lacey."
Development
Personality and lineage
The character appears to be tough, stubborn, fiery and very "bitchy", however, as Turner explains, this is just a front and "underneath she's very vulnerable". Turner has described her character as a cross between two other EastEnders characters, Janine Butcher and Kat Slater, saying: "She's very naughty, but she has her reasons for her nastiness."Over the course of the character's narrative, it was revealed that one of the reasons for Stacey's tough and malicious exterior was her troubled family life — specifically the death of her father, disappearance of her brother, and her mother's bipolar disorder. Addressed in a storyline that aired in December 2005, Stacey returned to live with her "disturbed" mother Jean, played by Gillian Wright, during one of her breakdowns. Jean, who "sank into the dark despair of her illness", was living in squalor, off her medication, starved, suicidal, and being abused and ridiculed by her neighbours. Stacey was forced to admit her to a mental institution for her own safety. The storyline won a Mental Health Media Award in September 2006.
Romance with Bradley Branning and affair with Max Branning
In 2006, scriptwriters decided to pair Stacey with a new character, Bradley Branning, played by Charlie Clements. Explaining the characters' attraction, scriptwriter Sarah Phelps has said, "Bradley's gentleness makes Stacey a little bit gentler, and Stacey's toughness makes Bradley a little bit tougher."The couple were shown to face problems in August 2006, when Stacey declared she was pregnant with Bradley's child, and on the advice of his father, Max, Bradley convinced Stacey to have an abortion.
Scriptwriter Sarah Phelps has described Stacey's abortion as "a dagger in heart... Stacey thought that if this is what really wants... 'OK I'll go through with it', but she really didn't want to. He broke her heart."
Although Stacey and Bradley split up at Christmas 2007 when her affair with Max is revealed, they reunite in December 2009 following Stacey's diagnosis with bipolar disorder. Executive producer Diederick Santer commented on the storyline, saying "Bradley and Stacey are together – that's what I want, that's what the audience wants and that's what the characters want. Together, they're very strong and they can take on the world. She's good with him, she takes her medication and on the face of it, she's the Stacey Slater we've always known. As ever with Stacey, though, there's a lot hidden. There are a lot of vulnerabilities there but she and Bradley want to make a go of things."
The 2007 Christmas Day episode in which the affair was revealed is one of the most iconic episodes in EastEnders history and was watched by 14.34 million viewers, becoming the shows' biggest rating in three years and the highest watched TV programme that year altogether.
Bipolar disorder
After losing her friend Danielle Jones, Stacey began acting strangely in May 2009, and the character has to come to terms with the prospect that, like her mother, she also suffers from bipolar disorder. The storyline was developed as of the BBC's Headroom campaign, which aims to encourage people to look after their mental wellbeing. Series Consultant Simon Ashdown had been developing the storyline for about a year. To accurately reflect the issue, EastEnders worked closely with various charities such as Mind and MDF The BiPolar Organisation, medical practitioners and bipolar sufferers when researching the storyline. The story was moulded around what Stacey would do in that situation and what the research led the team to believe was the most truthful way events would develop. Executive producer Diederick Santer said that the initial buildup of the storyline was an extension of how the character has always been, "a character of highs and lows, of great passions and dark moods," but these highs and lows would become more contrasted, and viewers would realise that Stacey's mood is more complex than just being upset over her losses, adding, "It's the beginning of us getting to really know and understand who Stacey is and what makes her behave the way she does." Turner hoped that she could do the storyline justice, saying that she believed it was great that EastEnders continued to raise awareness of the issue.The first signs of Stacey's odd behaviour were subtle, eventually building up into more extreme acts. One of the earliest indicators was her paranoia over a poster for a fictitious video game, Deprivation, featuring two large eyes on a black background. Ashdown got the idea for this from his research notes, saying, "There were similar sorts of images described by bipolar sufferers when they were experiencing extreme paranoia."
Mind's Chief Executive, Paul Farmer, commented on the storyline, "It's fantastic that a high-profile soap like EastEnders has been prepared to tackle the challenge of exploring a mental health issue through the experience of Stacey — who is such a well-loved and popular character. The degree of research and consultancy they have undertaken to ensure an accurate and honest portrayal of how mental distress affects not only the individual but also family and friends is to be commended.... We hope... to dispel the myths about mental health problems and help the public to be more informed about this issue."