Sonia Fowler - Reception

Reception

Natalie Cassidy won the award for "Best Actress" for the role of Sonia, at the 2001 British Soap Awards. Additionally, in 2004, Cassidy was awarded "best dramatic performance by a young actor or actress" for the role.

Referencing Sonia's foray into lesbianism in 2005, TV critic Grace Dent branded the character "the worst lesbian ever", adding, "The only lesbians with less lesbian tendencies than you are the women on the front cover of the Horny Triple-X Lesbian Specials which they keep at eye level by the sweets in my corner shop. Time to make a u-turn." Lesbian website AfterEllen.com was also critical of the storyline that saw Sonia experimenting with her sexuality and then returning to her heterosexual orientation shortly after. Sharon Hadrian writes: "It was the first time in over a decade that a lesbian couple had been depicted in the East London drama, lending cautious optimism to the idea that the BBC was finally integrating its traditionally heterosexual soaps Lesbian fans, meanwhile, are struggling to care at all after being led on by the show's failed attempts at writing a decent lesbian story line Despite their troubles, Martin and Sonia got married in 2004 and — given their past — many fans believe they are meant to be together. If this seems like the most inopportune time to turn Sonia into a lesbian, well, the show's writers did it anyway Sonia's sudden lesbian affair was met with disapproval from all sides, and nobody — the fans, characters or even the actors — was particularly supportive of her relationship. As a result, perhaps, the writers wrote what was expected of them there was hardly room in the script for any affection or sympathy at all; instead, their relationship was written around its impact on Martin and the other Albert Square residents. The reaction of Rebecca's guardian, Margaret, was especially hurtful. When the relationship became public, she immediately sought to award sole custody of Rebecca to Martin, citing Sonia's sexual orientation as the reason she would be an unfit mother. This vitriolic response to Sonia and Naomi's relationship could have been a pivotal moment had the program's producers used the opportunity to prove either the quality of their relationship or to reinforce Sonia's parenting abilities. Unfortunately, they did neither of these things. Instead, Margaret's reaction was surprisingly representative of the public response to their relationship. Fans of the show were upset that anyone (let alone a lesbian) had come between Sonia and Martin. Naomi came off looking especially predatory — a common trait in media representations of gay and lesbian characters — by seducing a formerly heterosexual woman and convincing her to leave her family not too surprisingly, Naomi and Sonia broke up. Afterward, Naomi faded into the background and Sonia ended up back with Martin, seeming to forget entirely about the same-sex attractions she once had It was a sad but not unexpected ending to a rare chance for the BBC to acknowledge lesbian sexuality in its programming and for viewers to witness a positive lesbian relationship that didn't ruin anybody's life Sonia or Naomi had the potential to develop a loving depiction of lesbian sexuality but were failed by the show's writers and, arguably, the BBC's institutionalized homophobia".