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Lisa Fowler, formerly known as Lisa Shaw, is a fictional character and central protagonist of the BBC British soap opera EastEnders.
She debuted in December 1998 and became one of the show's central protagonists up until her departure at the end of November 2003, before making a one-episode appearance in August 2010 and then reappearing as a supporting protagonist in 2017 as well as in 2019-2020 respectively alongside the year 2023 itself.
In her characterisation, Lisa Shaw started out as a market inspector who had a close friendship with her best-friend Mel Owen and became the third wife of established character Mark Fowler in 2002 until their marriage fell apart just months afterwards. Lisa's main story arc revolved on her ill-fated relationship with criminal hardman Phil Mitchell, as his abusive treatment towards Lisa served as a catalyst for a high-profiled storyline dubbed Who Shot Phil? in 2001; the storyline reached it's breaking point when Lisa was eventually revealed to be the person who shot Phil in the end.
The character is portrayed by Lucy Benjamin.
Biography[]
Lisa Shaw first came to Albert Square in Walford, a fictional borough in East London, from December 1998 as a new market inspector.
She thereupon befriended fellow new resident Mel Healy and the pair developed a close companionship. They initially clashed upon competiting for a romance with restaurant owner Gianni Di Marco, but the pair make amends and soon became best-friends after dumping Gianni due to the situation. As Lisa settled herself in the square, she began dating her boss Michael Rose when they got along together; they soon broke up, though, when Michael confronted Lisa over her supposed habitual tiredness. However, she supported Michael when his son Matthew Rose is wrongfully jailed for the murder of Mel's love rival Saskia Duncan.
Prior to the events of Matthew's trial for Saskia's death, Lisa had begun a relationship with the square's criminal hardman Phil Mitchell. Their relationship quickly proved to be ill-fated and problematic due to several complications, most notably when Phil's former wife Kathy Beale returns to the square with their infant son Ben to visit him. Lisa becomes unhappy when Phil starts to ignore her and think more about Kathy and Ben, even after he finds out that Kathy had a one-night stand with his brother Grant Mitchell.
The situation between Lisa and Phil continues in 2000 when Kathy leaves with Ben for a new life in South Africa, and Phil starts to take his fustrations out on Lisa because of it. Lisa is soon pregnant with Phil's baby, but this ends in tragedy when Lisa suffers a miscarriage and Phil appears to be less bothered about the outcome. It is at this point where Lisa acts as a surrogate mother to Phil's godson Jamie Mitchell, and she attempts to help Jamie reconcile with his girlfriend Sonia Jackson despite Phil's objections. As such, Lisa loses her job as a market inspector and starts to become dependent on Phil after he refuses to let her work at The Queen Victoria public house.
Soon enough, Lisa becomes acquainted with Phil's love rival Mark Fowler when he becomes concerned over her recent troubles. She later tells him about how Phil is making her feel second-best to Kathy and unhappy at the same time, which in turn leads to Mark and Phil developing a quarrel with each other. Phil soon begins to abuse Lisa physically, which first occurs on Christmas Day 2000 when Lisa confronts Phil for the way he has mistreated her throughout the year and he responds by hitting her before kicking Lisa out of his house. Phil later apologizes to Lisa and promises to change his ways, but she eventually breaks up with him after finding out that Phil had slept with Mel on Christmas Day. Phil later admits to Lisa that he never loved her and once again throws her out of his house when she attacks him with a plate.
On the night of Mel's wedding, Phil is shot by an unknown assailant; Mark is initially suspected as the culprit due to his quarrel with Phil before the police soon turn their attention to Mel's husband Steve Owen, his sworn enemy Dan Sullivan, and her ex-spouse Ian Beale due to each of them having a motive against Phil in the past. However, it is soon revealed that Lisa is the person who shot Phil and that he knew about it all along. When Phil recuperates, he discharges himself from hospital and goes to confront Lisa for shooting him. The pair get into an argument over everything that has happened between them and Phil threatens to kill Lisa, but he ultimately spares her upon realizing that he drove Lisa into shooting him. Phil then decides to frame Dan for the shooting when the latter starts extorting money from him and Jamie, before she and Mark learn about Dan's predicament from Gianni's brother Beppe Di Marco.
Not long afterwards, Lisa tells Mark that she is pregnant with Phil's baby again and wishes to keep it a secret from Phil; she and Mark then agree to make it out that he is the father of her baby and not Phil. This steadily works when Phil finds out about her pregnancy and believes that Mark is the father, but this is nearly threatened when Mark's nemesis Nick Cotton starts pestering her during his revenge campaign against Mark for hospilatizing him on New Year's Day 2001.
In November 2001, Lisa goes into labour and gives birth to her baby daughter Louise. However, the secret is eventually exposed when Lisa tells Phil's lover Sharon Watts the truth about Louise's parentary and she in turn reveals the truth to Phil on Christmas Eve 2001. Phil confronts Lisa for keeping the secret from him and she is forced to let Phil be involved in Louise's life. In March 2002, however, she and Mark plan the join Mel and Steve in fleeing the country to America with Louise in order to prevent Phil from getting involved in their lives. But this fails when Steve kidnaps Louise to get revenge on Phil, who in turn discovers the ruse and ends up having a high-speed car chase with Steve that ends with the latter crashing the vehicle with Louise inside; Phil manages to rescue Louise just in time before Steve is then killed in a vehicle explosion.
Towards the end of March 2002, Lisa marries Mark and supports Mel when she gets falsely arrested for collaborating in Steve's illict activities. Mel then leaves the country with Phil's bail money after discovering that Lisa shot Phil a year ago. It is then Lisa plans to settle a happy marriage with Mark, but this ends in disaster when Phil seduces her and they end up having a dalliance behind Mark's back until she eventually reveals the truth to him. Lisa then breaks up with Mark and flees to Portgual with Louise to try and escape Phil, but he tracks her down and reclaims Louise before leaving Lisa behind in Portgual.
In 2003, Lisa returns to the square on the day Phil gets married to his new spouse Kate Morton. She later attempts to make peace with Phil by requesting for parental rights for Louise, but he refuses to allow this to happen. Lisa then plans to kill Phil by shooting him again, but it stopped by Sharon's father Den Watts before this could happen; Den then promises to help Lisa get her daughter back from Phil, partially due to the fact that Den and Phil have embarked on a feud with each other. Lisa starts to grow impatient with Den as time goes on and tries to seduce Den's son Dennis Rickman to get his attention, but instead gets rebuked in turn for this. However, Lisa eventually reclaims custody of Louise after Phil gets arrested for armed robbery thanks to Den and Dennis setting him up for the crime; Lisa then flees the country with Louise just before Phil can process what has happened.
In 2010, Lisa is greeted by Phil's mother Peggy Mitchell and gets slapped for the trouble she caused on her son. But they make amends after Lisa finds out that Phil slapped Peggy and was worried tht he might do the same to Louise. Then in 2017, Lisa reappears when Sonia's daughter and Louise's best-friend Bex Fowler summons her with news that Louise is in hospital. Lisa is soon reacquainted with Phil and starts having a mental breakdown before getting sectioned.
In 2019, Lisa is released from the hospital and she resurfaces on the square once more. She attempts to comfort Mel after her wayward son Hunter is killed and is heartbroken when Mel is killed just months later. By then, Lisa is supporting Louise's engagement to her fiance Keanu Taylor and the birth of their daughter Peg. However, she finds out that Keanu is having an affair with Sharon while the latter is still married to Phil and reveals the truth to him. Phil initially disbelieves Lisa, but later works out that she is telling the truth and kicks Sharon out before summoning Louise's brother Ben to help eliminate Keanu in revenge. In 2020, Lisa and Louise decide to leave the square for good; Phil relents and he helps the pair leave Walford.
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Trivia[]
- Lisa Benjamin (the actress who plays Lisa Fowler) had won and recieved numerous awards for her character's performance and contribution to several storylines - most notably in the Who Shot Phil? scenario.
- During the course of the on-screen relationship between Lisa and Phil in EastEnders, Lucy had been dating Steve McFadden (the actor who plays Phil Mitchell) around the same time.