Chelsea Fox

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Chelsea Fox
EastEnders character
Zaraah Abrahams as Chelsea Fox (2021)
Portrayed byTiana Benjamin (2006–2010)
Zaraah Abrahams (2020–present)
Duration2006–2010, 2020–present
First appearanceEpisode 3145
2 May 2006 (2006-05-02)
ClassificationPresent; regular
Introduced byKate Harwood (2006)
Jon Sen (2020)
Spin-off
appearances		EastEnders: E20 (2010–2011)

Tiana Benjamin as Chelsea Fox (2007)
In-universe information
Other namesChelsea Atkins
Occupation
  • Waitress
  • Beautician
  • Shop assistant
  • Barmaid
Father
Mica Fox

Chelsea Fox (also Atkins) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tiana Benjamin from 2006 to 2010, and then Zaraah Abrahams from 2020 onwards. Benjamin was cast in the role and she left her role in the Harry Potter film series to appear in the soap; she made her first appearance as Chelsea in episode 3147, broadcast on 5 May 2006, when she is introduced as part of the all-female Fox family alongside her mother, Denise Fox (Diane Parish), and half-sister, Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu). Benjamin announced her departure from the show in April 2010, and she left in episode 4047, broadcast on 5 August 2010. In October 2020, the character's return was announced alongside Abrahams' casting. Chelsea returns in episode 6188/6189, broadcast on 25 December 2020.

Storylines

2006–2010

Upon Chelsea's arrival, she is seduced by

CCTV evidence that clears Sean, but Carly finds it and gives it to the police. Sean is released, and the police charge Chelsea and Deano with perverting the course of justice
. Sean gets revenge by cutting Chelsea's hair while she sleeps and having Deano beaten by a gang of thugs. She and Deano are sentenced to six months imprisonment and released after three.

Chelsea befriends

Ellis Prince (Michael Obiora
), who offers her drugs. A guilt-ridden Chelsea confesses her infidelity to Theo and despite his forgiving her, insists she cannot be with him and ends the relationship. She resumes her relationship with Ellis but Lucas finds the drugs Ellis gave her and confronts Chelsea. She runs away with Ellis, leaving a note for her family but returns on Libby's birthday.

Chelsea and

public house, she employs Chelsea as a barmaid. Denise sets Chelsea up on a blind date with an associate of Lucas's called Matthew, but Chelsea does not enjoy the date and tells Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) she wants to leave. While she is in the toilet, Jack tells Matthew that Chelsea has a boyfriend so he leaves. Chelsea and Jack start dating and she returns to work at the salon, now named Roxy's. When Jack is shot and hospitalised, Chelsea declares her love for him and stays with him in hospital but Jack ends it as he is still in love with his ex-girlfriend and Roxy's sister, Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack). Later, Chelsea and her colleague Amira Masood (Preeya Kalidas) worry that they are pregnant and take pregnancy tests. Amira's test is negative but Chelsea's test comes back positive. Chelsea decides to keep the baby but decides not to tell Jack, although she is scared of the prospect of becoming a single mother. She takes the test again and realises that she is not pregnant. She tells Amira that it was her test that was positive and promises to keep her secret when she leaves Walford after learning that her husband Syed (Marc Elliott
) is gay.

When Owen's body is discovered buried under the Square, Denise is taken for questioning. Chelsea thinks that Denise may have killed Trina and Owen, as Lucas had told her that Denise was hiding Trina's bracelet in her bag. Chelsea tells Libby about the bracelet, and after Denise is released without charge, they see her leaving the Square alone and receive a text message from her saying "I'm sorry", unaware that Lucas killed Owen and confessed to Denise, took her to a canal and strangled her, sending the text message before he threw the phone in the canal. The police tell the family that Denise's car has been found by the canal and a body is pulled from the water along with Denise's mobile phone. Chelsea offers to go with Lucas to identify the body but she is unable to go in so he goes in alone and identifies it as Denise, leaving Chelsea devastated. Whilst celebrating Libby's birthday, Denise walks in, revealing that she is not dead but that Lucas has been keeping her prisoner, and that he killed Trina and Owen. Lucas enters and confirms that Denise is telling the truth and takes the family hostage, but when Jordan arrives, they escape and Lucas is arrested. Chelsea decides to move to Spain with Libby's grandmother,

Liz Turner (Kate Williams
), as people in Walford will only ever think of her as the daughter of a murderer. Denise initially argues with Chelsea about this, but eventually agrees, encouraging Libby to go too for a holiday before returning to university. After leaving drinks in The Queen Victoria pub, Chelsea, Libby, and Liz leave Walford in the back of a taxi.

In November 2011, Amira states that Chelsea is living in Málaga, Spain. In May 2014, Denise goes to Spain with Libby to celebrate Chelsea's birthday. In August 2015, when Libby returns to Walford for her birthday, Chelsea calls her, urging her to tell Denise something, but Libby cannot go through with it. In December 2015, Libby reveals to Denise that Jordan (now played by Joivan Wade) briefly lived with her and Chelsea in Spain; however he caused an endless amount of trouble for them, so Chelsea kicked him out.

2020–present

In December 2020, Denise is surprised to see Chelsea (now played by

Caleb Malone (Ben Freeman) who is responsible for the attack. Chelsea is indebted to Caleb after fleecing him, and she plans on using Lucas to smuggle drugs for Caleb. Chelsea arranges a trip to Spain with Lucas, planning to use him to smuggle drugs, but ultimately fails. Denise confronts Lucas about upsetting Chelsea, and they both go missing. Chelsea finds blood in Lucas's flat and believes that Lucas has hurt Denise, but she later discovers that Caleb has taken Denise instead. Denise discovers Chelsea's plan and reluctantly agrees to help her trick Lucas into drug trafficking. They try to convince Lucas to follow Chelsea to Ibiza
, but he later discovers their intentions. He vows to kill Caleb, but Chelsea threatens to abandon Lucas if he proceeds to do so, having not forgiven him for faking Denise's death, and she warns him that Caleb will kill her if he doesn't help her. When Denise's boyfriend and Chelsea's ex-lover Jack discovers Chelsea's scheme, she attempts to seduce him to stop him from reporting her to the police. Lucas agrees to do the job but changes his mind. However he is arrested after being caught, and Chelsea later tips the police off when Caleb asks her to meet him, and he is arrested.

Chelsea begins a relationship with lawyer

Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol
) to incriminate Gray for his crimes.

Chelsea becomes horrified with Gray's control over her, and she decides to secretly register Jordan's birth certificate without Gray's knowledge but struggles to do so as her passport has expired. Kheerat helps her to obtain a passport, but she is later devastated to discover that Gray has already registered Jordan's birth. Chelsea develops Stockholm syndrome and turns on Whitney and Kheerat when they attempt to help her. When Gray is hospitalised after a fight with Kheerat, Chelsea regains her confidence and becomes disgusted with Gray. It is soon discovered that Gray had murdered Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White) and buried her corpse underneath The Argee Bharjee, and Gray takes Jordan from hospital and plans on fleeing Walford. Chelsea finds him and he tries to persuade her to leave with him. When she quizzes him about Chantelle's death, Gray confesses to killing her, although he reveals that it was an accident. Chelsea pretends to forgive him, however, unbeknownst to Gray, she has phoned the police and secretly recorded his confession. When Chelsea accidentally drops the phone, Gray realises that he has inadvertently confessed to the police, and proceeds to strangle Chelsea. He then attempts to attack her with a knife, but Chelsea punches him and tries to escape. Gray stops her and then flees when the police arrive; he is later arrested when Whitney and Mitch stop him from committing suicide by jumping off a railway bridge. Chelsea decides to put Jordan up for adoption to protect him from Gray's infamous reputation but is stopped by Denise. Whitney offers to move in with Chelsea to help her look after Jordan, but they are shocked to discover that Gray has fallen behind in paying the rent, and they are subsequently evicted.

Chelsea moves back in with Patrick and her aunt

Amy Mitchell (Ellie Dadd). She is found and agrees to commit herself into a mental health facility. On Denise's release, after Jack's affair with Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) is exposed by Martin Fowler (James Bye
) at a family barbecue, Chelsea slaps Stacey then leaves with Denise.

Creation and development

On 12 January 2006, an official BBC press report announced the introduction of a new character to EastEnders, Chelsea Fox. Chelsea was due to be part of a new, all female family joining the show, with Chelsea's mother Denise and her sister Libby (played by

Angelina Johnson in the Harry Potter
film series in order to take the part. Chelsea made her first screen appearance in May 2006 and was the first of the Fox family to be seen by viewers.

Departure

In April 2010, it was announced that Benjamin had chosen to leave the show to pursue other projects. Of her decision, she said "I have had an amazing time at EastEnders and this has been a very difficult decision for me to make but now seems like the right time to move on and leave Chelsea behind even through she's been such a fantastic character to play."[3] Her final episode was broadcast on 5 August 2010.[4]

Recast and return

It was announced in October 2020 that the character would be reintroduced with the role recast to actress Zaraah Abrahams. The announcement followed the news that Don Gilet would reprise his role as Chelsea's father, Lucas Johnson.[5] Abrahams expressed her excitement at joining the cast, while Jon Sen, the show's executive producer, praised Abrahams' casting and commented, "When Chelsea was around, trouble was never far away and that is as true as ever when she returns to Walford later this year".[5]

Reception

In 2021, Abrahams was longlisted for "Best Newcomer" for the Inside Soap Awards for her role as Chelsea.[6] That same year, Laura-Jayne Tyler from Inside Soap wrote "We love Chelsea. She must be protected at all costs", adding that she would lose her mind if Chelsea was murdered by Gray at Christmas.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Tiana Benjamin Interview". BBC. 18 September 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2008.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Harry Potter star to join EastEnders". BBC Press Office. 12 January 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
  3. ^ Green, Kris (2 April 2010). "Tiana Benjamin quits 'EastEnders'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  4. ^ Green, Kris; Kilkelly, Daniel (July 2010). "Peggy takes Louise to see Lisa". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  5. ^
    Hearst Magazines UK
    . Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  6. ^ Alexander, Susannah (28 September 2021). "Inside Soap Awards announces 2021 longlist as voting opens – here's who's up for prizes". Digital Spy. Hearst Communications. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  7. ^ Tyler, Laura-Jayne (13–19 November 2021). "Hits & Misses!". Inside Soap. No. 46. p. 98.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chelsea_Fox&oldid=1220735243"