Disaster awaits Walford residents, with Denise Fox set to be pushed into a decision as EastEnders will take control of her storyline. Last year, the hairdresser's marriage to Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) was thrown into chaos when she discovered his affair with Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner). The fling ended but Denise has since kept Jack at bay and reignited her own passionate affair with Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), leaving her stuck between both men.
Now as Denise is torn between love and loyalty, Diane Parish has lifted the lid on what could be coming her way. The actress, 55, has portrayed Denise since her 2006 debut, and has most recently shared scenes with Ravi co-star Aaron. "I did suspect something might be coming between Denise and Ravi as I kept having a few little scenes with Aaron, and I didn’t know why," she says. "We wondered, after everything that happened between Denise and Ravi, how we’d get to this point. But I was sure that working with an actor like Aaron, that it would work," she adds. But everything could change with a ground-breaking vote.
In an unprecedented move, EastEnders bosses are allowing fans of the London-based program to have an impact on Denise's storyline as the hour-long anniversary episode (Wednesday, February 19) will be followed by a vote from viewers. Registered soap fans will then play matchmaker for Denise, choosing between Ravi and Jack. Their final answer will be unveiled during a full live episode on Thursday, February 20.
While Denise’s romantic dilemmas are heating up, Diane has long been captivated by the EastEnders drama. A lifelong fan, she remembers being glued to Sharongate, the soap’s infamous 1994 love triangle reveal. This caused her to be late to one of her own stage performances, forcing her co-stars at the time to drag her out of the stage manager’s office - where she was diligently recording the soap. "I didn’t want to miss Sharongate being exposed. That, for me, was classic powerful EastEnders," she says.
Over the years, Denise has been at the centre of many of EastEnders’ most gripping moments, but three of her storylines have stood out. First, her ill-fated marriage to serial killer Lucas Johnson (Don Gilet). In 2010, Lucas went on a murder spree in Walford before holding Denise captive for two weeks, making her loved ones believe she was dead. More recently, Denise’s involvement in the Six’s murder cover-up and her descent into psychosis became another career-defining moment. “It was a real acting exercise to research psychosis and to go on a whole journey with it," she says.
Diane remembers the impact of the storyline on EastEnders’ dedicated fans, with some admirers thanking her for portraying the condition truthfully. “It blew me away to discover the number of people who are dealing with or have dealt with psychosis in their lives and how prevalent it is”, she says. “It’s important to tell stories like this to highlight mental health issues and bring them to the forefront.”.
