Vicki Fowler
Encyclopedia
Victoria Louise "Vicki" Fowler is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Emma Herry from the character's birth in 1986 to 1988, Samantha Leigh Martin
from 1988 to 1995, and Scarlett Johnson
from 2003 to 2004. The character was born in the serial, conceived in a controversial storyline about teenage pregnancy. She is the daughter of original characters Michelle Fowler
and Den Watts
. She was written out in 1995, after the actress who played Vicki's mother decided to leave the soap. After an 8 year absence, she was reintroduced by Executive Producer Louise Berridge
in 2003 as a rebellious teenager. Her reintroduction was part of the soap's attempt to rebuild the Watts clan, a successful family, headed by Den, that featured prominently in the 1980s. Johnson quit the role in 2004. The media was generally critical about the character upon her return due to her American accent and its sudden disappearance. During the character's original stint, a storyline featuring Vicki being kidnapped was criticised due to its coincidental airing alongside the non-fictional abduction and murder of toddler James Bulger
.
. Vicki is born in 1986 and Den is allowed to hold the newborn, but he and Michelle decide he should keep his distance from them so nobody guesses he is her father. Michelle raises Vicki as a single parent and Den provides for them secretly until February 1989 when he is shot and presumed dead. Vicki survives meningitis in 1989 and a kidnapping in 1993 when an old woman, Audrey Whittingham, steals her from outside her school. A national police investigation is launched and Vicki is returned home safely. In October 1995, when Vicki is 9 years old, she and her mother relocate to Florida, USA.
Vicki returns to Walford in February 2003 when she runs away from home. She has been rowing regularly with Michelle and it is eventually decided that she can stay in Walford. After clashing with her grandmother Pauline
, Vicki moves in with Den's adopted daughter, Sharon. Manipulative and mischievous, Vicki does as she pleases. She discovers that she and Sharon have a half-brother, Dennis Rickman
, she persuades him to move to Walford. When she becomes pregnant by Spencer Moon
, Sharon, who believes she is infertile, offers Vicki £10,000 to give her the baby to bring up as her own. Spencer has decided he wants to be a father, but Vicki terminates the pregnancy.
Vicki is overjoyed to find out from Dennis that Den, whom she thought was killed 14 years ago, is alive and living in Spain
, and she brings him back to the Square to reunite with his family. She's horrified to discover that Sharon and Dennis have started a romantic relationship. Although they aren't biologically related, Vicki cannot accept it and rebels by dating Ash Ferreira briefly. This ends when he realises that she is using him to get at her siblings. Eventually, Vicki and Den's objections take their toll on Sharon and Dennis and they end their relationship.
In 2004, Vicki starts a relationship with her 46-year-old college lecturer, Tommy Grant; her family, particularly stepmother Chrissie Watts
, are outraged. Tommy feigns love for Vicki and they talk about leaving Walford to go travelling. Knowing that Tommy is untrustworthy, Chrissie attempts to seduce him. After a brief kiss, Chrissie strips him naked in the toilets of The Queen Victoria
, on the promise that she will soon join him. She steals his clothes and forces Vicki to see him for the lying cheat he is. Vicki is humiliated, devastated, and furious with Chrissie, but eventually realizes she had her best interests at heart.
During a family meal on Christmas Day 2004, Sharon and Dennis announce that they have resumed their romantic relationship, only for Dennis's girlfriend Zoe Slater
to announce that she is pregnant. Sharon decides to go to America alone and persuades Dennis to stay with Zoe and their baby. Den talks to Sharon alone, trying to persuade her to stay. Vicki overhears him say he does not love Vicki as much as he loves Sharon. Deciding she cannot live with such a father, Vicki decides to return to her mother in America.
). Exploiting a whodunnit angle, viewers were not initially told who was the father, and press interest in the fledgling show escalated as journalists attempted to guess. The audience finally discovered his identity 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 a landmark episode in the show's history. 4 possible suspects were seen leaving the Square early in the episode: Tony Carpenter
(Oscar James
), Ali Osman
(Nejdet Salih), Andy O'Brien (Ross Davidson
), and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham
). As Michelle waited by their rendezvous point, a car pulled up and the fluffy white legs of the soap landlord's poodle Roly
leapt out of a car and gave it all away: Den Watts had fathered Michelle's baby. After this storyline the programme started to appear in newspaper cartoon
s as it moved more and more into the public mainstream.
Baby Emma Henry originated the role and played Vicki until 1988, when her parents moved to Scotland. The role was recast to Samantha Leigh Martin, who learned to call Susan Tully "Mummy Shell" and referred to Letitia Dean
who played her mum's best friend, "Daddy Sharon
". Tully has commented, "What's lovely about working with Samantha is that she's always happy. When it comes to work, she knows it's playing a pretend game, she knows my real name but she knows to call me 'Mummy Shell' when the cameras are running. If she isn't involved for a couple of weeks, I like to visit her at home, so she's always relaxed with me." Tully worried about this when it came to filming scenes in 1989 where Vicki contracted meningitis and was hospitalised and placed in an incubator with tubes attached to her body. Tully said, "[Samantha] has seen me in all kinds of situations but I didn't know how she'd cope if I cried over her". At Tully's suggestion, the BBC built a hospital room with minimal equipment and a consultant was present to make sure the BBC had the details correct and that neither the viewers or Samantha would be too distressed. Tully insisted that the child was not present when she had to film scenes of Michelle sobbing over the incubator.
In 1995, after 9 years onscreen being featured in various plot lines such as kidnapping, Vicki was written out of EastEnders, moving to America with Michelle.
decided to reintroduce the character 8 years after she had last appeared. Auditions were held to cast the role to a professional actor; however, auditionees were not informed which character they were auditioning for. The first audition was a group workshop of 30 auditionees, who were asked to perform improvisations. After whittling down potential actors from 500 to 4, the second stage of the audition process was an interview with EastEnders Casting Director. The auditionees were asked to perform a monologue in front of a camera and do a screen test with one of the actors already in the show, Christopher Parker
, who played Spencer Moon
. 17-year-old actress Scarlett Johnson
was cast: "At the second audition they gave me a monologue to read, but they'd been really careful about it. They hadn't said what the character's name was, they didn't give away anything in the monologue that might tell me who I was auditioning for. So I didn't know until I got the part who I was going to be playing--I'd been guessing for ages!" Asked how she felt when she knew she was playing Vicki Fowler, a character linked to the show's early history who is the daughter of 2 prominent original characters, Johnson said: "I felt very honoured, but it was quite scary. I knew there'd be a lot of people out there with expectations of what she'd be like. But it's good fun actually. It means you don't have to introduce yourself to everyone. You can really play with that [...] My family are EastEnders addicts, we've watched it our whole lives. I remember the first Vicki, I remember Michelle and I definitely remember Dirty Den! My knowledge of the show really helped a lot, because I didn't have to do any research into the character. When I joined the show, I felt like I was meeting the actors for a second time. I'd already met them in my home on TV, then I had to actually meet them in real life!" The character made her reappearance in January 2003, turning up unexpectedly at her grandmother Pauline's
(Wendy Richard
) house.
To signify the character's 8 years living in America, Johnson was required to use an American accent while playing Vicki. She was given a voice coach and a sheet of American phrases to practice weekly. She commented, "It is hard work, but it's becoming second nature now. As soon as I know that I'm Vicki, the accent just comes with it." After 6 months in the role, Vicki dropped the American accent. Johnson explained the reason for the change in 2004: "The producers knew that I had to have an American accent when I came into the show because my character had been living in America but it's not the kind of accent that you'd want to have for a long time on a show like EastEnders. It's not something that's going to fit in for a long period of time. What would have been perfect would have been to have it gradually fade out, but as you film 8 episodes at a time, this would be nigh on impossible. The decision was made that in the story Vicki was coming to terms with the fact that she wanted to live in London so therefore she was going to make a conscious effort to fit in with everyone around her and blend in with London life."
The reintroduction of Vicki was part of the producers' plan to reform the Watts family, including the resurrection of Vicki's father Den, who had been presumed dead for 14 years. Discussing working with Leslie Grantham, who played Vicki's "iconic" father Den, Johnson said, "I was 2 when he left EastEnders [in 1989] so I never witnessed the hype surrounding him. I'm very aware of the legend. How could I not be? My only concern was that he should take me seriously [and] It's been fabulous. I can't wait for our scenes to be shown. They're really edgy and no one does edgy better than Leslie. It's been a massive challenge but I think the results are incredibly hard-hitting. EastEnders is becoming more like a serial drama than a soap. It's so well-written."
). Vicki departed on the Christmas Day episode of 2004. 12.3 million viewers watched the episodes that involved the Watts family's disbandment. Media reports claimed that there were plans to bring Vicki back the following year, played by a new actress; this proved to be false. Her character was notably absent at the funerals of Vicki's father Den in September 2005, her brother Dennis in January 2006, and her grandmother Pauline in January 2007.
) were viewer favourites. EastEnders was criticised in 1993 for featuring a storyline about child abduction at an inappropriate time. In the storyline, 6-year old Vicki was abducted, leaving Michelle frantic with worry. In what has been described as a "coincidence of ill-timing," the storyline was screened at the same time as the real-life abduction and murder of 2-year-old James Bulger
. The BBC was forced to transmit a health warning prior to the airing of the episodes, announcing that the storyline would be "resolved positively."
In the book, Social Issues in Television, a senior, nameless script editor opined that the abduction storyline sought to engage the audience at the expense of any parent's realistic concerns: "We get it wrong when we take the easy route like the kidnap snatch with Vicki. My argument about this was that I am a father but have never had my kids snatched. If I'm just sitting at home and my children are out late at night and they say they're going to be back at midnight and they don't come back, you immediately think they're dead and you start to worry. If they'd actually been snatched, it would have affected my entire life forever. I would never have recovered from it. I would have been frightened every time one of them left my side. Therefore the consequence of running a storyline like that is immense. If we were being totally responsible about it the fallout on Michelle would have been, well I just don't think she would have been the same person again."
The character received media criticism due to her American accent upon her reintroduction in 2003. Johnson said, "I knew that would happen because I'm the only character who speaks differently. I haven't taken any of that to heart." However, when the accent was altered from American to British, this received criticism too with Ian Hyland from the Daily Mirror describing it as "hilarious" and branding the character "Go Away Again Vicki". He added, "Presumably the producers decided the reason viewers found her so annoying was her whiny American voice. Try again, guys."
A proportion of viewers responded negatively when Vicki was shown to have an abortion. Johnson claims she received abusive letters from fans of the show and that she was stopped in the street twice by older women who told her "it was quite wrong [...] to have got rid of the baby. I found that awkward at the time. But, gradually, I came to realise it was rather flattering. Those women believed in my character so completely they forgot she wasn't real. So now I think I must have been doing a good job."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, played by Emma Herry from the character's birth in 1986 to 1988, Samantha Leigh Martin
Samantha Leigh Martin
Samantha Leigh Martin is a former child actor from England. She appeared in the BBC soap opera Eastenders between 1988 and 1995, in the role of Vicki Fowler. She was three years old when she was cast and took over the role from Emma Henry, who was unable to continue as her parents moved away from...
from 1988 to 1995, and Scarlett Johnson
Scarlett Johnson
Scarlett Johnson also known as Scarlett Alice Johnson is a British actress.Johnson attended Highgate Wood School and Performing Arts College where she was spotted by an agent in a production of Guys and Dolls in which she played the lead.The role of Vicki Fowler on the BBC's flagship soap opera...
from 2003 to 2004. The character was born in the serial, conceived in a controversial storyline about teenage pregnancy. She is the daughter of original characters Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actress Susan Tully.Although she was one of the brighter people in Walford, that didn't stop Michelle making some huge mistakes during her time in Albert Square...
and Den Watts
Den Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
. She was written out in 1995, after the actress who played Vicki's mother decided to leave the soap. After an 8 year absence, she was reintroduced by Executive Producer Louise Berridge
Louise Berridge
Louise Berridge is a British writer of historical fiction. Before she became a novelist, she was best known as a television producer and script editor. The most famous post being the executive producer of BBC's EastEnders between 2002 and 2004...
in 2003 as a rebellious teenager. Her reintroduction was part of the soap's attempt to rebuild the Watts clan, a successful family, headed by Den, that featured prominently in the 1980s. Johnson quit the role in 2004. The media was generally critical about the character upon her return due to her American accent and its sudden disappearance. During the character's original stint, a storyline featuring Vicki being kidnapped was criticised due to its coincidental airing alongside the non-fictional abduction and murder of toddler James Bulger
Murder of James Bulger
James Patrick Bulger was a boy from Kirkby, England, who was murdered on 12 February 1993, when aged two. He was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables .Bulger disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, near Liverpool, while...
.
Storylines
16-year-old Michelle Fowler got pregnant with Vicki in 1985 after a one-night stand with her best friend Sharon's father, Den WattsDen Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
. Vicki is born in 1986 and Den is allowed to hold the newborn, but he and Michelle decide he should keep his distance from them so nobody guesses he is her father. Michelle raises Vicki as a single parent and Den provides for them secretly until February 1989 when he is shot and presumed dead. Vicki survives meningitis in 1989 and a kidnapping in 1993 when an old woman, Audrey Whittingham, steals her from outside her school. A national police investigation is launched and Vicki is returned home safely. In October 1995, when Vicki is 9 years old, she and her mother relocate to Florida, USA.
Vicki returns to Walford in February 2003 when she runs away from home. She has been rowing regularly with Michelle and it is eventually decided that she can stay in Walford. After clashing with her grandmother Pauline
Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional London borough of Walford. She was played by actress Wendy Richard between 1985 and 2006. Pauline was created by scriptwriter Tony Holland and producer...
, Vicki moves in with Den's adopted daughter, Sharon. Manipulative and mischievous, Vicki does as she pleases. She discovers that she and Sharon have a half-brother, Dennis Rickman
Dennis Rickman
Dennis Rickman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nigel Harman. He entered the show on 14 April 2003 and made his last appearance on 30 December 2005, when he was fatally stabbed as the midnight fireworks began. He is part of the Watts family, though his...
, she persuades him to move to Walford. When she becomes pregnant by Spencer Moon
Spencer Moon
Spencer Moon is a fictional character from the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Christopher Parker between 2002 and 2005. Spencer is the brother of Alfie Moon, played by Shane Richie.-Storylines:...
, Sharon, who believes she is infertile, offers Vicki £10,000 to give her the baby to bring up as her own. Spencer has decided he wants to be a father, but Vicki terminates the pregnancy.
Vicki is overjoyed to find out from Dennis that Den, whom she thought was killed 14 years ago, is alive and living in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and she brings him back to the Square to reunite with his family. She's horrified to discover that Sharon and Dennis have started a romantic relationship. Although they aren't biologically related, Vicki cannot accept it and rebels by dating Ash Ferreira briefly. This ends when he realises that she is using him to get at her siblings. Eventually, Vicki and Den's objections take their toll on Sharon and Dennis and they end their relationship.
In 2004, Vicki starts a relationship with her 46-year-old college lecturer, Tommy Grant; her family, particularly stepmother Chrissie Watts
Chrissie Watts
Christine "Chrissie" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman. She first appeared in April 2004 as the second wife of the show's "most enduring character", Den Watts, becoming a prominent regular for the next 18 months...
, are outraged. Tommy feigns love for Vicki and they talk about leaving Walford to go travelling. Knowing that Tommy is untrustworthy, Chrissie attempts to seduce him. After a brief kiss, Chrissie strips him naked in the toilets of The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria is a fictional Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.-Appearance and development:...
, on the promise that she will soon join him. She steals his clothes and forces Vicki to see him for the lying cheat he is. Vicki is humiliated, devastated, and furious with Chrissie, but eventually realizes she had her best interests at heart.
During a family meal on Christmas Day 2004, Sharon and Dennis announce that they have resumed their romantic relationship, only for Dennis's girlfriend Zoe Slater
Zoe Slater
Zoe Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Ryan. She made her first appearance on the 18 September 2000...
to announce that she is pregnant. Sharon decides to go to America alone and persuades Dennis to stay with Zoe and their baby. Den talks to Sharon alone, trying to persuade her to stay. Vicki overhears him say he does not love Vicki as much as he loves Sharon. Deciding she cannot live with such a father, Vicki decides to return to her mother in America.
Conception and childhood characterisation
The conception of Vicki Fowler in 1985 was one of the first controversial storylines featured in EastEnders since its inception that February, as it involved the pregnancy of a schoolgirl, Michelle Fowler (Susan TullySusan Tully
Susan Tully is an English television producer, director and former actress.Her most prominent television roles to date have been those of single mother Michelle Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and her pivotal part in early Grange Hill...
). Exploiting a whodunnit angle, viewers were not initially told who was the father, and press interest in the fledgling show escalated as journalists attempted to guess. The audience finally discovered his identity 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 a landmark episode in the show's history. 4 possible suspects were seen leaving the Square early in the episode: Tony Carpenter
Tony Carpenter
Tony Carpenter is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Oscar James.Happy go lucky Tony tried to carve himself a successful business and steady home for his family, but nothing he did was ever good enough for his nagging wife.-Storylines:Trinidadian born Tony, married...
(Oscar James
Oscar James
Oscar James is a Trinidadian actor, who is based in the United Kingdom. He has had a long and varied career, but is best known for appearing on British television, in particular the BBC soap opera EastEnders, where he played original character, Tony Carpenter, for over two years...
), Ali Osman
Ali Osman
Ali Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nejdet Salih. He was a member of the original EastEnders cast, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985. He remained with the show for nearly five years afterwards, making his final appearance on 10 October...
(Nejdet Salih), Andy O'Brien (Ross Davidson
Ross Davidson
William Russell "Ross" Davidson was a British actor best known for his role as Andy O'Brien in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Career:...
), and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham
Leslie Grantham
Leslie Michael Grantham is an English actor best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the soap opera EastEnders. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal...
). As Michelle waited by their rendezvous point, a car pulled up and the fluffy white legs of the soap landlord's poodle Roly
Roly
Roly is a fictional dog from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Roly was an apricot coloured Standard Poodle, who appeared in the first episode of the programme and remained in the show until 1993.-Storylines:...
leapt out of a car and gave it all away: Den Watts had fathered Michelle's baby. After this storyline the programme started to appear in newspaper cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s as it moved more and more into the public mainstream.
Baby Emma Henry originated the role and played Vicki until 1988, when her parents moved to Scotland. The role was recast to Samantha Leigh Martin, who learned to call Susan Tully "Mummy Shell" and referred to Letitia Dean
Letitia Dean
Letitia Dean is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Sharon Watts in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, who was one of the serial's original characters. Dean was part of the original cast in 1985 and remained in the series until 1995...
who played her mum's best friend, "Daddy Sharon
Sharon Rickman
Sharon Anne Rickman is a fictional character from the popular BBC1 soap opera EastEnders, played by Letitia Dean, who was a regular cast member for the first 10 years after the programme began on 19 February 1985. She returned in May 2001, and appeared on and off, having most recently appeared in...
". Tully has commented, "What's lovely about working with Samantha is that she's always happy. When it comes to work, she knows it's playing a pretend game, she knows my real name but she knows to call me 'Mummy Shell' when the cameras are running. If she isn't involved for a couple of weeks, I like to visit her at home, so she's always relaxed with me." Tully worried about this when it came to filming scenes in 1989 where Vicki contracted meningitis and was hospitalised and placed in an incubator with tubes attached to her body. Tully said, "[Samantha] has seen me in all kinds of situations but I didn't know how she'd cope if I cried over her". At Tully's suggestion, the BBC built a hospital room with minimal equipment and a consultant was present to make sure the BBC had the details correct and that neither the viewers or Samantha would be too distressed. Tully insisted that the child was not present when she had to film scenes of Michelle sobbing over the incubator.
In 1995, after 9 years onscreen being featured in various plot lines such as kidnapping, Vicki was written out of EastEnders, moving to America with Michelle.
Recast (2003)
In 2002, Executive Producer Louise BerridgeLouise Berridge
Louise Berridge is a British writer of historical fiction. Before she became a novelist, she was best known as a television producer and script editor. The most famous post being the executive producer of BBC's EastEnders between 2002 and 2004...
decided to reintroduce the character 8 years after she had last appeared. Auditions were held to cast the role to a professional actor; however, auditionees were not informed which character they were auditioning for. The first audition was a group workshop of 30 auditionees, who were asked to perform improvisations. After whittling down potential actors from 500 to 4, the second stage of the audition process was an interview with EastEnders Casting Director. The auditionees were asked to perform a monologue in front of a camera and do a screen test with one of the actors already in the show, Christopher Parker
Christopher Parker
Christopher Parker is an English actor and television presenter.- Early career :Christopher Parker’s career began at an early age as a model appearing in print campaigns and TV commercials. . He progressed onto small roles in TV dramas such as The Bill, London's Burning and Judge John Deed...
, who played Spencer Moon
Spencer Moon
Spencer Moon is a fictional character from the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Christopher Parker between 2002 and 2005. Spencer is the brother of Alfie Moon, played by Shane Richie.-Storylines:...
. 17-year-old actress Scarlett Johnson
Scarlett Johnson
Scarlett Johnson also known as Scarlett Alice Johnson is a British actress.Johnson attended Highgate Wood School and Performing Arts College where she was spotted by an agent in a production of Guys and Dolls in which she played the lead.The role of Vicki Fowler on the BBC's flagship soap opera...
was cast: "At the second audition they gave me a monologue to read, but they'd been really careful about it. They hadn't said what the character's name was, they didn't give away anything in the monologue that might tell me who I was auditioning for. So I didn't know until I got the part who I was going to be playing--I'd been guessing for ages!" Asked how she felt when she knew she was playing Vicki Fowler, a character linked to the show's early history who is the daughter of 2 prominent original characters, Johnson said: "I felt very honoured, but it was quite scary. I knew there'd be a lot of people out there with expectations of what she'd be like. But it's good fun actually. It means you don't have to introduce yourself to everyone. You can really play with that [...] My family are EastEnders addicts, we've watched it our whole lives. I remember the first Vicki, I remember Michelle and I definitely remember Dirty Den! My knowledge of the show really helped a lot, because I didn't have to do any research into the character. When I joined the show, I felt like I was meeting the actors for a second time. I'd already met them in my home on TV, then I had to actually meet them in real life!" The character made her reappearance in January 2003, turning up unexpectedly at her grandmother Pauline's
Pauline Fowler
Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional London borough of Walford. She was played by actress Wendy Richard between 1985 and 2006. Pauline was created by scriptwriter Tony Holland and producer...
(Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard, MBE was an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders...
) house.
To signify the character's 8 years living in America, Johnson was required to use an American accent while playing Vicki. She was given a voice coach and a sheet of American phrases to practice weekly. She commented, "It is hard work, but it's becoming second nature now. As soon as I know that I'm Vicki, the accent just comes with it." After 6 months in the role, Vicki dropped the American accent. Johnson explained the reason for the change in 2004: "The producers knew that I had to have an American accent when I came into the show because my character had been living in America but it's not the kind of accent that you'd want to have for a long time on a show like EastEnders. It's not something that's going to fit in for a long period of time. What would have been perfect would have been to have it gradually fade out, but as you film 8 episodes at a time, this would be nigh on impossible. The decision was made that in the story Vicki was coming to terms with the fact that she wanted to live in London so therefore she was going to make a conscious effort to fit in with everyone around her and blend in with London life."
The reintroduction of Vicki was part of the producers' plan to reform the Watts family, including the resurrection of Vicki's father Den, who had been presumed dead for 14 years. Discussing working with Leslie Grantham, who played Vicki's "iconic" father Den, Johnson said, "I was 2 when he left EastEnders [in 1989] so I never witnessed the hype surrounding him. I'm very aware of the legend. How could I not be? My only concern was that he should take me seriously [and] It's been fabulous. I can't wait for our scenes to be shown. They're really edgy and no one does edgy better than Leslie. It's been a massive challenge but I think the results are incredibly hard-hitting. EastEnders is becoming more like a serial drama than a soap. It's so well-written."
Personality
Vicki has been described as a "little madam" and a rebel. An EastEnders source commented, "Vicki has inherited a lot of her dad Den's traits - she is going to be a right handful". Johnson has said, "Everyone loves to hate her, but I rather like that. I'd be more upset if she was nondescript. At least I provoke a passionate response in people. It's great being a bad girl."Exit (2004)
In August 2004, the BBC announced that Johnson had decided to quit her role as Vicki. She commented, "I've had a really good two years, enjoyed all the experiences but it's time to move on". A spokesman for the soap said, "It’s her decision to go. We’d like to thank her for all her fantastic work and wish her the very best of luck." Johnson filmed her final scenes in October and her departure coincided with that of Vicki's half-sister, Sharon (Letitia DeanLetitia Dean
Letitia Dean is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Sharon Watts in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders, who was one of the serial's original characters. Dean was part of the original cast in 1985 and remained in the series until 1995...
). Vicki departed on the Christmas Day episode of 2004. 12.3 million viewers watched the episodes that involved the Watts family's disbandment. Media reports claimed that there were plans to bring Vicki back the following year, played by a new actress; this proved to be false. Her character was notably absent at the funerals of Vicki's father Den in September 2005, her brother Dennis in January 2006, and her grandmother Pauline in January 2007.
Reception
According to author Hilary Kingsley, the scenes in EastEnders early years that showed toddler Vicki "chattering happily" with the baby actor who played her uncle Martin (Jon Peyton PriceJon Peyton Price
Jon Peyton Price is a British actor.He played Martin Fowler in EastEnders from the character's birth in 1985 until 1996, when the role was recast, and he was replaced by James Alexandrou.He also appeared as himself on RI:SE in 2003.-External links:...
) were viewer favourites. EastEnders was criticised in 1993 for featuring a storyline about child abduction at an inappropriate time. In the storyline, 6-year old Vicki was abducted, leaving Michelle frantic with worry. In what has been described as a "coincidence of ill-timing," the storyline was screened at the same time as the real-life abduction and murder of 2-year-old James Bulger
Murder of James Bulger
James Patrick Bulger was a boy from Kirkby, England, who was murdered on 12 February 1993, when aged two. He was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables .Bulger disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, near Liverpool, while...
. The BBC was forced to transmit a health warning prior to the airing of the episodes, announcing that the storyline would be "resolved positively."
In the book, Social Issues in Television, a senior, nameless script editor opined that the abduction storyline sought to engage the audience at the expense of any parent's realistic concerns: "We get it wrong when we take the easy route like the kidnap snatch with Vicki. My argument about this was that I am a father but have never had my kids snatched. If I'm just sitting at home and my children are out late at night and they say they're going to be back at midnight and they don't come back, you immediately think they're dead and you start to worry. If they'd actually been snatched, it would have affected my entire life forever. I would never have recovered from it. I would have been frightened every time one of them left my side. Therefore the consequence of running a storyline like that is immense. If we were being totally responsible about it the fallout on Michelle would have been, well I just don't think she would have been the same person again."
The character received media criticism due to her American accent upon her reintroduction in 2003. Johnson said, "I knew that would happen because I'm the only character who speaks differently. I haven't taken any of that to heart." However, when the accent was altered from American to British, this received criticism too with Ian Hyland from the Daily Mirror describing it as "hilarious" and branding the character "Go Away Again Vicki". He added, "Presumably the producers decided the reason viewers found her so annoying was her whiny American voice. Try again, guys."
A proportion of viewers responded negatively when Vicki was shown to have an abortion. Johnson claims she received abusive letters from fans of the show and that she was stopped in the street twice by older women who told her "it was quite wrong [...] to have got rid of the baby. I found that awkward at the time. But, gradually, I came to realise it was rather flattering. Those women believed in my character so completely they forgot she wasn't real. So now I think I must have been doing a good job."