"Шығыс Ендерс" сериалының кейіпкері – Вики Фаулер

Fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders

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 Alice Johnson from 2003 to 2004. She is the daughter of Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully) and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). The character is born in the serial, conceived in a controversial storyline about teenage pregnancy. Exploiting a whodunnit angle, at the time of the first showing, 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 in 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. Early suspects were Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) and Kelvin Carpenter (Paul J. Medford), but then four possible suspects are seen leaving the Square early in the episode: Tony Carpenter (Oscar James), Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih), Andy O'Brien (Ross Davidson), and Den Watts. As Michelle waits by their rendezvous point, a car pulls up and the fluffy white legs of the soap landlord's poodle Roly leap out of a car to give it all away: Den Watts is the father of Michelle's baby. After this storyline the programme started to appear in newspaper cartoons as it moved more and more into the public mainstream. Vicki's character was written out in October 1995, after Susan Tully, who played Vicki's mother Michelle, decided to leave the soap. After an eight year absence, she was reintroduced by Executive Producer Louise Berridge in January 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, which had featured prominently in the 1980s. Johnson quit the role in 2004. Her stint between 2003 2004 focused on her relationship with Spencer Moon (Christopher Parker), becoming pregnant with Spencer's child and subsequently having an abortion, a difficult relationship with her estranged father Den who she once believed had died, and a relationship with lecturer Tommy Grant (Robert Cavanah). 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 real life abduction and murder of toddler James Bulger.

16 year old Michelle Fowler gets pregnant in 1985 after a one night stand with her best friend Sharon's (Letitia Dean) father, Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). Her family decide Michelle should have an abortion but she refuses, keeping the baby but keeping the father's name a secret. Vicki, named in honour of her great grandparents Lou Beale (Anna Wing) and Lou's late husband Albert, is born in 1986 and Den is allowed to hold her but he and Michelle agree that he should keep his distance so nobody guesses he is her father. Michelle raises Vicki with her fiancé, Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt), who she marries after jilting him at the altar, although Den provides for Vicki secretly. After Sue Osman (Sandy Ratcliff) realises that she has had a phantom pregnancy, she is devastated and suggests to Michelle that she lets her and Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih) adopt Vicki, which infuriates Michelle. Vicki's grandmother, Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), realises Den is Vicki's father when she sees him give money to Michelle and slaps him. Lofty begins to pressure Michelle to let him adopt Vicki and have another child, but their marriage soon breaks down after Michelle has an abortion and Michelle refuses to name Vicki's father upon Lofty's departure. When Den is shot and presumed dead, Michelle tells Sharon that Vicki is her half sister and Sharon is devastated whilst Arthur is furious. Vicki survives meningitis but Dr Legg (Leonard Fenton) fails to diagnose it, reuniting Michelle and Sharon. Michelle decides to go on the run with Clyde Tavernier (Steven Woodcock) after he is accused of murdering Eddie Royle (Michael Melia), taking Vicki and Kofi Tavernier (Marcel Smith), Clyde's son, with them. Michelle and Clyde are caught by the police when trying to flee the country and Vicki and Kofi are sent to a children's home, but are later collected by their grandmothers. Vicki is kidnapped when an old woman, Audrey Whittingham (Shirley Dixon), takes her from outside her school. A national police investigation is launched and Vicki is returned home safely. When Michelle is shot by Dougie Briggs (Max Gold), Vicki discovers she is Sharon's half sister when she stays with Sharon and her husband, Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) and the following day, Sharon tells Vicki about her father, which infuriates Michelle. The truth about Vicki's paternity spreads and Michelle's aunt, Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), is upset about not being told by Michelle herself, finding out from Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton). In October 1995, Michelle and 9 year old Vicki leave Walford for Birmingham, Alabama, in the United States.

A teenage Vicki returns to Walford in February 2003 when she runs away from home. She has been arguing regularly with Michelle and it is decided that she can stay in Walford. After clashing with her grandmother Pauline, Vicki moves in with Sharon. Manipulative and mischievous, Vicki does as she pleases. Just weeks later, she discovers that she and Sharon have a half brother, Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) – and persuades him to move to Walford. When she becomes pregnant by Spencer Moon (Christopher Parker), Sharon, who believes she is infertile, offers Vicki £10,000 to give her the baby to bring up as her own. Spencer wants to be a father but Vicki terminates the pregnancy. Dennis soon tells Vicki that Den, who had supposedly died in 1989, 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 (Raji James), which ends when he realizes 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 the relationship. In 2004, an 18 year old Vicki starts a relationship with her 46 year old college lecturer, Tommy Grant (Robert Cavanah); her family, particularly stepmother Chrissie Watts (Tracy Ann Oberman), 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 public house, 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 devastated and initially 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 (Michelle Ryan) 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. It is later revealed that she has moved to Australia and reunited with Spencer. In January 2014, Sharon tells Spencer's brother, Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), that they need someone to help them open a bar in Sydney, so Alfie goes there for a few weeks to work with them. Vicki and Spencer are unable to attend Sharon's wedding to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) in September 2014, nor are they able to attend the wedding of Vicki's relative Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) to Jane Beale (Laurie Brett) in February 2015. When Lofty returns to Walford in 2019, he gives Sharon a £20,000 cheque to give to Vicki. In 2022, Vicki is revealed to be back in the USA when Sharon flies over to be with her whilst Vicki undergoes emergency surgery.

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 Tully). Exploiting a Whodunit 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. Four 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. 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."

In 2002, executive producer Louise Berridge 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,

17 year old actress Scarlett Alice 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 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 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". She commented, "I've had a really good two years, enjoyed all the experiences but it's time to move on". 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. Following her departure from EastEnders, Johnson was more candid in her reasons for leaving: "I've had a great time but it got to the point where I was sat in bed at night thinking: 'Tomorrow will my character be crying, getting drunk or having an argument?'. It soon became physically exhausting and draining [ ] I don't think the producers were very happy when I said I wanted to leave. I was still very new and they had just set up the new Watts dynasty but no one could have made me change my mind. When I said to the producers I wanted to go they told me they might have to recast Vicki. I don't mind. Life goes on and EastEnders goes on. I wouldn't want to go back at the moment – but never say never."

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 Price) were viewer favourites. 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. He added, "Presumably the producers decided the reason viewers found her so annoying was her whiny American voice. Try again, guys." Upon her departure in 2004, Johnson was also critical about her character's alternating accent: "When I took the job they weren't sure what accent they wanted Vicki to have and about a week before they told me it should be American. I did that for a few months and then one day out of the blue I arrived on set and they told me they wanted me to change to Cockney. It was the producer's decision. I was as stunned as everyone else – all the criticism was perfectly justified. It's probably the most stupid decision they could have made. People assumed I was slipping out of the accent – but it was nothing to do with me. I've taken a lot of stick. But it doesn't bother me because I know the truth." 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." Johnson has since been critical of the storylines given to her character describing them as weak. In September 2023 the character received a resurgence in popularity when EastEnders fans began posting clips from Vicki's 2003 2004 stint on social media site Twitter, comparing her to Kelly Osbourne and along with sharing clips, images and memes of Coronation Street actresses Vicky Binns and Vicky Entwistle, fans branded the era 'The Vickaissance'.