Storylines
Michelle spends the early part of 1985 competing with her best friend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) for the affections of Kelvin Carpenter (Paul J. Medford), but the romance quickly fizzles out. When she is 16, in September 1985, Michelle discovers she is pregnant. Despite pressure from her family, Michelle refuses to name the father. She also refuses to have an abortion, adamant that she is keeping her baby. Speculation persists as to Michelle's child's father's identity. He is eventually revealed as Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), Sharon's 39-year-old father. Michelle had turned to Den for sympathy during a difficult time and they had a one-night stand. At a nearby canal, away from the prying eyes of Walford, Den promises to provide financial support for his child and keep its paternity a secret.
Michelle spends the early part of 1986 struggling with the hardships of being a pregnant teenager. Restricted from the youthful pursuits of her peers, she begins to get depressed. She turns to kind-hearted barman Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt) who eventually falls in love with her, proposing to her and offering to bring up her child as his own. Although she initially refuses, she eventually accepts. That May, she gives birth to a daughter she names Vicki. As their wedding day nears, Michelle has second thoughts. Unable to get over Den, she realizes that she doesn't love Lofty. Den visits her moments before she's supposed to walk down the aisle, and their chat spurs her to jilt Lofty at the altar. But later that year she changes her mind and Lofty whisks her off for a secret wedding away from Walford. Their marriage does not go smoothly. Michelle grows tired of Lofty, who pressues her to let him to adopt Vicki legally and also to have another baby. Michelle likes neither idea, but after an ill-fated attempt to elope with Den, she settles for an unhappy life with Lofty and ends 1987 with an unwanted pregnancy. Lofty is overjoyed and against Michelle's wishes, tells all of Walford about Michelle's pregnancy. Michelle retaliates by sneaking away for a private abortion funded by Den, who doesn't want Lofty to adopt Vicki. A devastated Lofty physically attacks Michelle in front of her family. The marriage dissolves and Lofty leaves Walford.
Michelle moves into a flat with Vicki and Sharon, paid for by Den who had got involved with local gangsters known as The Firm, leading to a spell in prison in 1988. After it becomes clear that the firm want Den dead, he escapes from custody but meets with Michelle by the canal one last time, not realising she is under surveillance. At the canal, Michelle tells Den that she will wait for him and that one day they will be together with Vicki as a family. After their emotional farewell, Den is shot by a man concealing a gun in a bunch of daffodils and falls into the canal. With Den presumed dead, both Michelle and Sharon are distraught. When a witness says Den had been seen with a mystery woman the day of his death, Sharon wonders who it was, and Michelle decides to confess not only that she was the one but also that Den is Vicki's father. Feeling hurt, angry, deceived, and unable to accept Michelle's explanation, Sharon walks out wishing she had never been told. Later, Michelle's father, Arthur (Bill Treacher) accidentally overhears a conversation between Michelle and her mother Pauline (Wendy Richard) in which he discovers the truth about Vicki, and he reacts with fury. Michelle and Sharon remain estranged for months, until Vicki contracts meningitis late in the year and their shared worry brings them closer and they become good friends again.
In 1989 Michelle gets involved with another married man, computer salesman, Danny Whiting (Saul Jephcott), who pretends to Michelle that his marriage is over, whilst trying to reconcile with his wife. In 1991 Michelle moves in with Rachel Kominski (Jacquetta May), a lecturer who persuades Michelle to resume her studies and enroll at University. Michelle and Rachel become inseparable, and rumours about their sexuality prompt Michelle to embark on a relationship with Clyde Tavernier (Steven Woodcock), a fellow single parent. Some of the Albert Square residents, including Arthur, view their interracial relationship with disdain. Later that year Clyde is falsely accused of murdering publican Eddie Royle (Michael Melia). With the police closing in, Clyde decides to flee the country with his son Kofi (Marcel Smith), and Michelle decides to take Vicki and go with him. Their getaway fails, and Clyde is imprisoned. He is freed 3 months later, but in late 1992 Clyde catches Michelle in bed with fellow student Jack Woodman (James Gilbey), which ends their relationship. Early in 1993, Jack turns up in Walford claiming he and Michelle are meant to be together. When she rejects his constant advances, he behaves erratically: he convinces Pauline that he is dating Michelle and steals her unwashed knickers, he makes threatening phone calls, and he injures himself to gain her sympathy. Michelle turns to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) for help, and Jack disappears while they're finding out from his parents that he is mentally unstable. In March, Vicki is abducted from her playgroup and Jack becomes the prime suspect of her kidnapping. A national police operation eventually finds Vicki in the clutches of an old woman named Audrey Whittingham (Shirley Dixon) and Michelle is reunited with her daughter.
Michelle has one clear enemy on the Square: Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), Sharon's abusive husband. In 1994 Michelle is shot by Dougie Briggs (Max Gold), a psychotic army friend of Grant's. Michelle survives, but she rethinks her life in Walford. In 1995 she plans to move to Scotland with her middle-aged boyfriend Geoff Barnes (David Roper), her former university lecturer. They decide to marry, but Michelle has second thoughts and calls it off. After Sharon flees following the breakup of her marriage, Michelle and Grant have a heated argument about Grant's poor treatment of Sharon, but then the two have sex in The Queen Victoria public house). Michelle quickly regrets this, and when she discovers she's pregnant, she tells only her brother Mark (Todd Carty) that Grant is the father, and when she is offered a job in Alabama, she moves to America.
Seven months later, in May 1996, Arthur dies. Michelle is unable to travel back for her father's funeral as she gives birth off-screen to a son she names after Mark. It is later revealed that Michelle married and is living in Florida with Vicki, Mark Jr., and her new husband. When Michelle's mother Pauline dies in December 2006, Michelle does not attend the funeral, but inherits her mother's life savings. In January 2012, her cousin Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) calls her to let her know that Pat Evans has died.
Read more about this topic: Michelle Fowler