Denise Fox
| Denise Fox | |||||||||||||
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| File:Denise fox.jpg | |||||||||||||
| Duration | 2006— | ||||||||||||
| First appearance | 11 May 2006 | ||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||
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Denise Celeste Wicks (née Fox) is a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. She is played by Diane Parish. She made her first appearance on 11 May 2006. It was announced on 18 August 2007 that Denise would temporarily leave EastEnders in early 2008 so that Diane Parish could give birth to her second child. Her temporary exit coincided with Kevin, Carly and Deano Wicks's permanent departures from the show.[1] She returned to Walford on 6 June 2008.
Storylines
2006-2007
First seen in May 2006, Denise has two daughters, Chelsea and Libby, who she is fiercely protective of. Despite a tempestuous first encounter with Kevin Wicks — Denise wrongly accused him of sleeping with Chelsea — an attraction developed and they began dating. Problems arose when Denise's ex-husband Owen Turner tried to reunite with his daughter, Libby. Denise was opposed to this as Owen was an alcoholic with a history of domestic violence; however, with Libby's encouragement, Denise began to warm to Owen again. They slept together, which ended her relationship with Kevin. Owen's stepdaughter Chelsea, who had been victim to Owen's abuse, berated her mother for contemplating reconciliation. Denise loved Owen, but regretted sleeping with him, and when she told him, he beat her. Owen apologised profusely when he was sober, but Chelsea persuaded Denise to banish him from their lives, after which he turned violent again; he beat Denise and took Kevin hostage at knifepoint, until he was arrested. Libby persuaded Denise to provide a character witness for Owen at his trial; he was subsequently given a suspended sentence, but upon his release he kidnapped Libby, phoning Denise to tell her that he was going to kill her and commit suicide. Denise rushed to Epping Forest, where the police suspected Owen was, but this caused Owen to try and drown Libby and himself. Denise and Kevin found Libby unconscious, but she survived and Owen was imprisoned. In the wake of her family's ordeal, Denise reunited with Kevin and moved her family in with his.
In October 2006, Denise was shocked to discover that Patrick Trueman had been in a band called "The Five Hectors", as her father, whom she never knew, had been in the same band. Any of the five band members could have been Denise's long-lost father, three of whom, Cedric Lucas, Dwight and Earl, had died, but the remaining two, Aubrey Valentine and Patrick, agreed to paternity tests. Aubrey conned Denise into believing he might be her father, but eventually confessed that it was an impossibility. Meanwhile, Patrick's test confirmed that he was not Denise's father, but after growing close to Libby, he pretended he was. Denise was horrified to discover the truth while holidaying with Patrick in Dorset, but despite her upset, she forgave him for lying.
When Kevin's ex-wife, Shirley Wicks, arrived in Walford, she caused numerous problems for Denise and Kevin. Shirley revealed Kevin's secret, that he was not the biological father of Shirley's children Deano and Carly, and in the wake of this, Kevin fled, abandoning Denise. Upset, Denise threatened to move away, but she was stopped by Kevin, who returned and proposed marriage. Denise initially rejected him, but eventually accepted. Shirley tried to ruin their wedding by turning up at the ceremony to inform Denise about a recent sexual encounter she had with Kevin; however, Kevin had already confessed and Shirley's attempt at stirring only encouraged her to go through with the wedding, though she kicked Kevin in the groin before saying "I do".
Throughout the remainder of 2007, Denise weathered various problems, including Chelsea and Deano's imprisonment for framing Sean Slater, Kevin's dishonesty when he attempted to cover their crime, and a feud with her boss at the post office, Zainab Masood, which caused Denise to lose her job and get reinstated several times. In December 2007, Kevin started selling cars for Phil Mitchell, but later discovered that they were cut-and-shuts and tried to destroy them; however, Denise had already sold one to Yolande Trueman. Kevin tried to dispose of the car by stealing it on New Year's Eve, accompanied by Shirley, who was forced to go along by her ex-husband Kevin when she tried to interfere. They raced the car then planned to set it alight to make it look like the handy work of joyriders, but whilst driving at high speed, the car bonnet flew open and Kevin crashed, leaving him impaled by a metal pole. Shirley held his hand while he slowly died. Denise Wicks was devastated to receive the news of her husband Kevin's death and following his funeral in January 2008, she decided to travel the world with Carly and scatter his ashes.
2008—
Denise returned to Walford on 6 June 2008, but as she was leaving her cab she found to her horror a drugged-up Chelsea being escorted home by Patrick and her long-lost father Lucas Johnson. Denise was devastated to discover that Chelsea had become a cocaine addict, and was further infuriated by Lucas' reappearance in their lives. It transpired that Lucas and Denise had got together when they were teenagers and she had fallen pregnant by him at sixteen but he was a drug addict and constantly let her down, such as when Denise had to endure giving birth to their daughter on her own as he was away partying. A few months down the line Lucas found that he couldn't cope being a father at such a young age and done a runner, leaving Denise to bring up Chelsea on her own.
Because of this, Denise was initially hostile and frosty to Lucas when he tried to explain that he had turned his life around. Denise was annoyed further when Lucas moved into 43a Albert Square, with his son Jordan, in order to be closer to Chelsea. Shortly after arriving back in the Square, Denise secured a job at Pat Cars as a driver, beating local postman Masood Ahmed in a remote control car race to decide who filled the vacancy. She also began a friendship with Suzy Branning, who set her up on a date with her brother Max as she thought Max needed a woman after his wife Tanya chose to be with his brother Jack over him, but the date was unsuccessful when the pair were discussing their family problems.
Denise soon began competing against her former boss Zainab through her daughter Libby as both she and Zainab's son Tamwar were "Oxbridge" material. Libby was all set to go to Oxford University, but soon had a change of heart when she realised that she would have to give up her boyfriend Darren Miller. Determined not to see her daughter throw away her potential she forced Darren to break up with Libby. However Denise's plan backfired when Lucas learned the truth and filled Libby in. This led to Libby moving in with Darren, and also resulted in Denise and Lucas locked in a passionate embrace after arguing. For the next few weeks they spent most of the time avoiding each other, which was noticed by Patrick, Chelsea and Libby. The trio then hatched a plan to get Lucas and Denise to reunite by locking them in the B&B. After initially arguing with each other, Lucas and Denise eventually gave into temptation and were later found kissing on the sofa by Patrick, Chelsea and Libby. The next day Lucas and Denise went on a date, which went really well but was slightly marred when Lucas rebuffed Denise's attempts to take their romance to the next level by insisting that he would not be having sex again until he was married.
On 11 December 2008, Denise strongly supported Lucas when he was held responsible for the employment of Tony King when his affair with Whitney Dean was revealed with many angry parents wanting to find answers. Despite this he decides to proposed to her, but however she declines his offer when she states that she is still not ready to be a wife again after Kevin's death. A broken-hearted Lucas then reveals that he will leave for Leeds with his son Jordan. Denise soon comes to her senses, and proposes to Lucas just before he got on his train leaving London. Lucas accepts and he and Jordan have now moved into the B&B with Denise, Chelsea, Libby and Patrick. Denise has been organising her wedding to Lucas for the past week, finally deciding on a Valetine's Day wedding. Her plans were thwarted when Jordan revealed that Lucas was still legally married to Jordan's mother Trina. Denise has called off the plans but Lucas assures her that he will get a divorce from Trina so they can marry soon.
References
- ^ "'Kevin Wicks' quits 'EastEnders', Digital Spy. URL last accessed 2007-08-18.