Over the course of her original stint, Michelle displayed a habit of choosing the wrong men, and a stubborn nature to the point where she rarely accepted help or listened to good advice.

The follow-up of this revelation explored Michelle's secret relationship with Den prior to her giving birth to their daughter, Vicki (Scarlett Alice Johnson).

Other storylines have included a problematic marriage to Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt); helping nurse her aunt Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) back to health following the latter's rape ordeal from her boss James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde); briefly falling out with Sharon after the truth of Vicki's parentage and Michelle's dalliance with Den is exposed; becoming the mistress of Danny Whiting (Saul Jephcott); and getting stalked by her ex-boyfriend Jack Woodman (James Gilbey).

Following the recast to Russell in 2016, Michelle's storylines revolved around her having had an illegal relationship with her student Preston Cooper (Martin Anzor) from America; a love triangle involving her niece Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield); stealing Phil's car in a drunken stupor that results in her crashing the vehicle into the local chip shop; having to take care of Phil's daughter Louise (Tilly Keeper) and Sharon's son Denny Rickman (Bleu Landau) on her own when the couple later go on holiday; and being hassled by her old acquaintance Tom Bailey (Daniel Casey) over his scheme to defraud her.

Not long after turning 16, Michelle discovers that she is pregnant; she refuses to name the father of her child or have an abortion despite pressure from her family, instead becoming adamant that she is keeping her baby.

While striving to move forward from Lofty and the abortion of their child, Michelle gives moral support to her aunt Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), after finding out that she had been raped by her boss, James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde).

Despite some complications amid the circumstances, they successfully help Kathy get justice after James is found guilty of rape and sentenced to three years in prison.

Eventually, Michelle's father Arthur (Bill Treacher) discovers the truth behind Vicki's parentage as well after accidentally walking in on a conversation between his wife and daughter over Den.

With the police closing in, Clyde resolves to leave the square with his son Kofi (Marcel Smith) and tells Michelle about this; she later decides to go with him and take Vicki along in the process.

When she rejects his advances, he behaves erratically: he convinces Pauline that he is dating Michelle and steals her unwashed knickers, makes threatening phone calls and he injures himself to gain her sympathy.

Michelle is able to move forward from her troubles with Woodman by planning to graduate from University, and is eventually successful after gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in December 1994.

In 1995, Michelle considers her life in Walford and contemplates on moving to Scotland with her new boyfriend Geoff Barnes (David Roper)—who coincidentally turns out to be her former university lecturer.

However, when Pauline becomes reclusive to the point where she alienates her family and everyone else around her at Christmas 2006, Martin finally tells her the truth about Grant being the father of Michelle's baby Mark.

In 2012, Kathy's son Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) contacts Michelle to inform her of the death of their closest family friend, Pat Butcher.

In early 2016, Martin leaves to stay with Michelle for a few weeks after he realised that his son Arthur Fowler Jnr was actually fathered by his best friend Kush Kazemi.

She swerves in the end, consequently crashing into the chip shop, where Kathy and fellow neighbour Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami) are nearly injured as a result.

Whilst travelling to work on the Tube, Michelle meets a passenger named Tom Bailey (Daniel Casey) on the train, and she eventually gets the courage to ask him to go out on a date.

In 2018, Michelle is requested by Sharon's business partner Mel Owen (Tamzin Outhwaite) to tutor her son Hunter (Charlie Winter) in the hope that he would improve his school grades.

In January 2024, Sharon goes to Australia with her son Albie to stay with Michelle after her fiancé Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) is murdered by Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).

Michelle's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story.

Despite their interest, both Holland and Smith were hesitant about casting her because she was already widely known for playing the student Suzanne Ross in the children's television show Grange Hill.

[2] 4 possible suspects were seen leaving the Square in the episode's first half: Tony Carpenter (Oscar James), Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih), Andy O'Brien (Ross Davidson), and Den Watts (Leslie Grantham).

[2] The finishing touch was the use of alternative end-title music, "Julia's Theme", a variation of the usual one which replaced the dramatic drum beats with a longer, gentler piano-solo introduction.

[1] Finally strong lights were shone into the eyes of the journalists and photographers, making them angry, and they tried to gain access to the grounds by breaking the security barrier and telling the production team that they were extras needed inside the church.

[1] The episode, written by Tony McHale, was screened on the same day that a private member's bill was discussed in the House of Commons, which sought to reduce the number of weeks following conception in which an abortion can be carried out.

According to Brake, this episode was held in high regard by the programme's producers, directors, and writers and gave Tully and Dean the chance to demonstrate how much they had grown as actresses during their 4 years on the show.

[2] Michelle went on to feature in controversial storylines such as her daughter's kidnapping, a shooting, and a brief liaison with her best friend's ex-husband and her own nemesis Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) — which left her pregnant.

Executive producer Sean O'Connor said he is "thrilled to have secured Jenna Russell to play Michelle Fowler, one of the show's most celebrated characters" and "the Square really has missed her over the past twenty years."

An official EastEnders spokesperson said: "Jenna is a terrific actress who has loved her time on the show playing Michelle and it was a mutual decision to write the character out.

"[9] In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Michelle 23rd on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time and wrote that her most memorable moments included "a secret baby with Den Watts at 16, witnessing Den's "assassination", inadvertently exposing Sharon's affair with Phil, and having a secret baby with Grant", as well as adding that she "cruelly betrayed" Lofty.