One of the longest-serving EastEnders characters, Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy)m has packed her bags and left Walford after three decades on Albert Square, much to the sadness of soap fans.
First arriving in the East End alongside her mum Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson), when she was just 10 years old, Sonia had a tumultuous life while living on Albert Square and faced a series of shocking life challenges, including surprise pregnancy, murder accusations and an ill-advised kidnap plot.
The BBC soap won’t be the same without her Below, we run though the moments that will make Sonia Fowler go down in TV history.
5. Sonia’s kidnap plot
Back in 2000, 15-year-old Sonia began to have second thoughts after giving her first child, Chloe, up for adoption. So she kidnapped her.
By this point, the baby had already been re-named Rebecca by her adoptive parents, who were manically trying to get her back. Eventually, Sonia’s step-grandmother Dot Branning (June Brown) intervened to try and make her see sense.
However, Sonia didn’t quite get the message that kidnap isn’t OK and hurled Dot’s bible across the room in retaliation. Classic soap drama.
4. Getting her wires crossed with Phil Mitchell
After securing custody of Rebecca in 2007, following the death of her daughter’s adoptive parents, Sonia returned to Walford in 2010 for her sister Bianca’s (Patsy Palmer) wedding three years later. All did not go smoothly when Sonia returned to her hometown. She got blackout drunk and decided to chastise Phil Mitchell over his treatment of his son and her ex-boyfriend, Jamie (Jack Ryder), who died in 2002.
Phil quickly told Sonia to go upstairs to sober up. However, she misread his signals and waited for him in his bed, fully naked. His partner Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) was fuming upon making the discovery and all hell broke loose.
3. Her big fight with Pauline Fowler
If there’s one thing we know for certain about EastEnders, it’s that Christmas Day serves up drama like no other – and 25 December 2006 was no different. This was the festive episode in which Sonia got into an altercation with her mother-in-law Pauline (Wendy Richard) and slapped her so hard she dropped to the floor.
In a serious case of bad timing, Pauline later died outside in the snow and Sonia was accused of her murder. It later turned out Pauline’s second husband Joe Macer (Ray Brooks) had killed her by smacking her over the head with a frying pan and Sonia was exonerated. Chaos.
2. The trumpet
Few inanimate objects have as big of a viewer fandom as Sonia’s trusty trumpet.
The instrument – and her inability to play it – has been a recurring gag on the soap for years, with one fan heralding its return “the greatest comeback in show history” back in 2018. It even featured in her iconic departure from Albert Square.
1. Sonia’s surprise baby
Sonia’s most memorable moment was her first major plot line, which saw her give birth to a surprise baby after a one-night stand with Martin Fowler (who was then played by James Alexandrou).
After screaming in agony during the shock labour, Mo Harris (Laila Morse) came running over from next door to help Sonia give birth to her daughter Chloe, later renamed Bex.
The story hit the headlines hard and quickly became one of the most talked about EastEnders scenes of all time. In some publications, the plot point was praised for showing how a “sensible character” like Sonia could have an accidental pregnancy, without elaborate promiscuity of former characters like Mary Smith in the Eighties.
Elsewhere, others focussed on the terror that a cryptic pregnancy could happen to other women, too.
