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Stacey Slater
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Stacey Slater (previously Branning) is a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. She is played by Lacey Turner, and made her first appearance on 1 November 2004. The character was introduced as a feisty and troublesome teenager, an extension of the already established Slater clan. She has featured in numerous high profile storylines, including abortion, drug abuse, mental illness, and an affair with her husband's (Bradley) father Max.
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Encyclopedia
Stacey Slater (previously Branning) is a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. She is played by Lacey Turner, and made her first appearance on 1 November 2004. The character was introduced as a feisty and troublesome teenager, an extension of the already established Slater clan. She has featured in numerous high profile storylines, including abortion, drug abuse, mental illness, and an affair with her husband's (Bradley) father Max. Stacey has proven popular with fans and critics, and Lacey Turner has won multiple awards for her portrayal.
Character creation
In September 2004, an official BBC press release announced the arrival of a new addition to the popular Slater family; a new "feisty female" named Stacey Slater, Charlie Slater's great-niece and cousin to Kat, Lynne, Belinda, Little Mo and Zoe. According to the report, Stacey "looks like a Slater and shares the same family attitude but with one difference - Stacey is one hell of a bitch! […] She is going to be trouble!"
16 year old actress Lacey Turner was cast in the role. Turner had originally gone to audition for a part in the Miller family, but was given the part of Stacey instead. Commenting on her role, Turner said "I was speechless when I found out that I had been cast as Stacey Slater especially as I knew I would be working with Jessie Wallace who is my favourite actress. I've watched the show since I was about four years old, and I used to live in a house that backed onto the EastEnders set so I used to watch them filming all the time. I always dreamt of being on the show and so I can't believe that I've fulfilled my greatest ambition!" She added, "I'm not like Stacey at all although I love playing her! She's a real challenge […] I think people are going to love to hate her like they did with [the character] Janine Evans."
Character development
Personality and lineage
The character appears to be tough, stubborn, fiery and very bitchy, however, as actress Lacey Turner explains, this is just a front and "underneath she's very vulnerable". Stacey has been described as "sarky, sassy and...realistically streetwise." Lacey Turner has described her character as a cross between two other EastEnders characters, Janine Evans and Kat Slater. Indeed, her "malicious tongue and wicked ways" led to her being heralded as "a junior Janine" in 2004, by Tony Stewart of the Daily Mirror. Lacey Turner commented, "She's very naughty, but she has her reasons for her nastiness."
Over the course of the character's narrative, it was revealed that one of the reasons for Stacey's tough and malicious exterior, was her troubled family life. In specific, the death of her father, disappearance of her brother, and her mother's bipolar disorder. Addressed in a storyline that aired in December 2005, Stacey returned to live with her "disturbed" mother Jean, played by Gillian Wright, amidst one of her mental breakdowns. Scenes showed Jean, who had "sank into the dark despair of her illness", living in squalor, off her medication, starved, petrified, suicidal, and being abused and ridiculed by her neighbours. Stacey was forced to admit her to a mental institution for her own safety. The episodes, described as a "harrowing and bleak", were praised by critics in the media. Actresses Lacey Turner and Gillian Wright were complimented for giving "graphically powerful performances", and the storyline won a Mental Health Media Award in September 2006. Prior to the airing of this storyline, Stacey was portrayed as a "hateful tearaway", but it has been commented that the episodes allowed the audience to see a softer side to the character, while caring for her mentally disturbed mother.
Romance with Bradley
In 2006, scriptwriters decided to pair Stacey with a new character, Bradley Branning, played by Charlie Clements. Mismatched, one reporter commented, "geeky...goody-twoshoes Bradley doesn't seem like the type of lad she would normally go for", however they added that the couple "may be chalk and cheese, but with [Stacey's] history of emotional turmoil, [Bradley] is probably just the stabilising influence she needs." The couple were hailed as the nearest thing Walford had to Romeo and Juliet. Explaining the characters' attraction, scriptwriter Sarah Phelps has said, "Bradley's gentleness makes Stacey a little bit gentler, and Stacey's toughness makes Bradley a little bit tougher." Discussing the union between her character and Bradley, Turner has said, "I love working with Charlie — he's such a laugh. They're such different characters. It's nice, because it's not what anyone expected for her. Stacey doesn't want to rush it because he's the first person she's ever really cared about. If she's had boyfriends before, it's been all over after a week."
The couple were shown to face problems in August 2006, when Stacey declared she was pregnant with Bradley's child, and on the advice of his father, Max (Jake Wood), Bradley convinced Stacey to have an abortion; an episode that Jane Simon of The Mirror has described as "incredibly powerful" and "brilliantly played by Lacey Turner every horrible step of the way". Scriptwriter Sarah Phelps has described Stacey's abortion as "a dagger in [her] heart [...] Stacey thought that if this is what [Bradley] really wants [...] 'OK i'll go through with it', but she really didn't want to. He broke her heart." Bradley and Stacey were shown to grow steadily apart after this, as Bradley invested time in a new job he acquired in city bank, neglecting Stacey's needs and ignoring her depression over her lost baby. When Bradley purposefully excluded Stacey from a work function, she showed up anyway and humiliated him in front of his colleagues. In scenes shown directly after, Bradley dumped Stacey, declaring that the reason that he wanted to abort their baby was because he could not bear the idea of bringing up a child with Stacey. The end of Stacey and Bradley's relationship facilitated a plot twist that saw Stacey seducing Bradley's father Max. In episodes that aired on Christmas Day 2006, Stacey slept with Max as payback for Bradley's mistreatment. A BBC insider commented, "Stacey likes the idea that even if Bradley doesn't want her, his dad does."
Storylines
Backstory
Stacey had a troubled childhood due to her mother Jean's bipolar disorder, and the death of her father, Brian, when she was 11. Stacey struggled to cope with the suicidal and erratic behaviour resulting from Jean's mental illness. For a long time, the care of Jean was left solely to her, as her older brother Sean had disappeared from their lives, unable to cope with Jean's condition.
2004-2007
15 year old Stacey arrived in Albert Square in November 2004 to live with her extended family as her mother had thrown her out. Stacey was troublesome: she tried to seduce her cousin's husband Garry Hobbs; slept with Spencer Moon, then blackmailed him; led the much younger Lucy Beale astray; stole from her employers, The Truemans; and gave her cousin Zoe and Chrissie Watts a false alibi for the murder of Den Watts.
However, she eventually settled down, taking over Zoe's clothing stall on Bridge Street market, bonding with her mother and brother, who both since joined her in Walford, and forming a close friendship with Ruby Allen, though this was ruined in 2006 due to Ruby's doomed relationship with Sean.
Sean Slater She staceys older brother turned up on the square. He is extremly protective of her, and he had beaten up many men that had upset her or tried it on with her.
Stacey was initially unimpressed by Bradley Branning, who moved to Walford in January 2006. Their first night out together ended in disaster after Deano Wicks drugged Stacey's drink, and she had Bradley wrongfully arrested for assault. Truth prevailed, and in time, a romance developed. Stacey fell in love with Bradley; however, their relationship hit a setback in August when she fell pregnant. Stacey wanted to keep the baby, but Bradley had doubts, exacerbated by the disapproval of his father, Max. On Max's advice, Bradley persuaded Stacey to have an abortion. Stacey obliged, but felt disgusted with herself afterwards; a rift formed between her and Bradley. When Bradley opted to exclude a depressed Stacey from a work party, she reacted with fury, turning up drunk and embarrassing him. Furious, Bradley finished with Stacey, leaving her to be comforted by his father, Max. Unable to resist Stacey's attempts to seduce him to get revenge on Bradley, Max slept with her on Christmas Day 2006, beginning an affair.
Stacey and Max's affair continued into 2007, unbeknown to Bradley and Max's wife Tanya, though they were nearly caught out on several occasions. What began as lust developed into something more serious. Stacey began to make greater demands on Max, ordering him to leave his wife. Max claimed to love Stacey and agreed; however, when Tanya announced she was pregnant, Max abandoned his plans to leave her. Amidst threats that Stacey would tell Tanya the truth, Max fled with his family to Spain.
Heartbroken, Stacey retaliated by having a one-night stand with Deano Wicks in May 2007, and she then reunited with Bradley after he confessed that he still loved her. Bradley later proposed to Stacey and she accepted. When Max returned, he was horrified, but Stacey was no longer interested; all his attempts to split Bradley and Stacey up failed. When Sean discovered the affair, he tried to put a stop to the wedding, refusing to believe Stacey truly loved Bradley. Sean then went and beat Max up. Stacey remained adamant, but when the time came, she was unable to say "I do"; she fled, admitting to Sean that she was unsure if she could live with the guilt of sleeping with her husband's father. In the end, Bradley persuaded her to continue with the ceremony, promising that he did not care about her secret past, and they married. Max could not give Stacey up; while she was changing out of her wedding dress, he propositioned her once again; they kissed before Stacey remembered herself and pulled away. Unbeknown to them, their encounter was being recorded on camera hidden by Max's daughter Lauren Branning.
Feeling neglected by her father, Lauren gave a copy of the recording to Bradley. On Christmas Day 2007, Bradley played it in front of his entire family and chaos erupted. After being slapped by Tanya and shunned by most of her friends and family, Stacey attempted to apologise and explain the affair to Bradley, telling him she loved him and not Max; however, he was unable to cope with the thought of his wife and father sleeping together. Devastated, he smashed up their flat in a fit of rage, threw Stacey out and left Walford.
2008—
Stacey grew depressed. At R&R nightclub she got drunk, then collapsed on the dancefloor after taking liquid ecstasy. The experience forced Stacey to reevaluate her life. She tried to win Bradley back, but he turned her down, saying he still loved her but could not trust her. Stacey began to depend on her friend Steven Beale for support and they eventually began a relationship. Unbeknown to Stacey, Steven was fighting homosexual urges, and when Christian Clarke informed her that Steven had kissed him, she dumped him.
In June 2008, Bradley and Stacey reunited. Bradley was keen for them to have a baby, but Stacey remained uncertain and continued taking the contraceptive pill. In September 2008, Stacey, furious about Bradley accepting money from Max, kissed Callum Monks. She regretted it and tried to make her marriage work, but eventually admitted to Bradley that they were over. They split and Stacey and Callum slept together, beginning an on/off relationship.
Since then, her relationship with Callum did not work either when she discovered he wouldn't accept Jean because of her illness. Because of this, Callum kept trying to make it work, however she kept rejecting him. After their relationship was over, she had reconciled with Danielle, however made a brief fallout when Stacey kisses Danielle's boyfriend Paul in a 90's themed R&R nightclub. This had hurt Danielle and this also caused Callum and Paul to fight over her.
Reception
In 2007, Jim Shelley, television critic for the Daily Mirror, commented that Stacey "has been EastEnders best character since she arrived...". Turner has won multiple awards for her portrayal of Stacey: in 2005, she won best newcomer at the TV Quick Awards, and in 2006 she was awarded best actress at the British Soap Awards.
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