Sonia Fowler in EastEnders is at the heart of the soap and has been for years since she arrived in the Square as a little girl, with her famous trumpet under her arm!
Sonia’s seen all sorts of drama in her time in Walford, from an unexpected pregnancy to struggling with her sexuality and even being arrested for murder!
Sonia’s dad, Rocky, has arrived in Walford. But will she be pleased to see him?
Who plays Sonia Fowler in EastEnders
Sonia is played by Natalie Cassidy. She took on the role in 1993, when she was just 10 years old.
Natalie was in EastEnders for 13 years until she left in 2006. She returned in 2010 for a handful of episodes and in 2014 she made a proper comeback to the Square and has been in the show ever since.
Alongside her role in EastEnders, Natalie has appeared on stage and in TV shows including Psychoville and most recently as a put-upon teaching assistant in the BBC comedy Motherland.
She’s also appeared in Strictly Come Dancing and in Celebrity Big Brother.
Natalie has two daughters and regularly posts light-hearted glimpses of her family life on Instagram.
Sonia Fowler in EastEnders and her family
Sonia is part of the Jackson/Branning family. Her mother is Carol Jackson and her grandad is Jim Branning, making Dot Cotton her step-grandmother.
Sonia’s a sister to Robbie Jackson, Bianca Jackson, and Billie Jackson, who died in 2010.
Jack Branning and Max Branning are Sonia’s uncles, and Tiffany Butcher-Baker is her niece.
Sonia’s dad is Terry Cant. He was mentioned on the show back in 2020, when Sonia admitted she’d been looking for her estranged father online.
Sonia’s baby drama
In 1998, Sonia had a brief fling with Martin Fowler before getting together with the love of her life, Jamie Mitchell.
Unknown to Son, she was pregnant. In dramatic scenes for the teenage actress, Sonia gave birth to a baby girl, who she named Chloe, without ever having known she was expecting.
Sonia didn’t want to be a mother, so she gave up Chloe for adoption. The little girl was renamed Rebecca by her adoptive parents.
But Son became obsessed with the tot and kidnapped her. Luckily Dot was on hand with some wise words, and Sonia returned her to her parents.
Sonia, Jamie and Martin
Sonia and Jamie were madly in love though their romance hit a snag when Jamie cheated with Zoe Slater. The pair reconciled, though, and when Jamie was beaten up by Phil Mitchell it was Sonia who was by his side, taking care of him.
But tragedy struck when Martin Fowler hit Jamie with his car. Poor Jamie was badly hurt and later died in hospital, after proposing to heartbroken Sonia.
Despite Martin being responsible for Jamie’s death, he and Sonia eventually grew closer and they eloped. But their marriage hit problems when the couple tried to contact their daughter. And it fell apart when Sonia had an affair with fellow nurse Naomi.
Later, the pair got back together, and decided to make another go of their marriage, even though Martin’s mum, Pauline, lied and said she had a brain tumour to stop Martin getting back with Sonia.
Sonia tried to reason with her mother-in-law but ended up slapping her. And when Pauline was found dead later that same day, Sonia was arrested for murder. Though it was actually Pauline’s husband, Joe Macer, who struck the fatal blow.
Sonia, Martin and Rebecca all left Walford together.
Sonia’s return
When Sonia came back to Albert Square in 2014, she developed feelings for Tina Carter. Martin returned hoping to repair his marriage and was hurt when he saw Son and Tina snogging.
Since then, Sonia’s been unsettled and unhappy. She had an affair with daughter Bex’s teacher, and helped rescue niece Tiffany when she got involved with drug dealers and was sexually exploited. Sonia was devastated when Bex tried to kill herself and tried hard to care for her daughter.
Not long after Bex’s overdose, Sonia fell in love with Martin again. And when he knocked over a man named George Watson in a hit and run, Sonia tracked him down in hospital to check he hadn’t died.
But George realised Sonia knew the man who’d hit him, and began blackmailing her saying that unless she paid him thousands of pounds, he would go to the police. In an unexpected act of desperation, Sonia stole the money she needed from unsuspecting Dot Cotton.
Sonia the fun sponge
When Sonia returned from Kush’s funeral in Dubai, she was surprised and hurt to overhear Dotty calling her a fun-sponge.
And she was shocked to discover that Dotty was fleecing money from men who came to Ruby’s club.
And there are more shocks in store for Sonia with the arrival of her estranged dad, Terry Cant, aka Rocky. Rocky’s bound to stir up trouble for the exhausted nurse. But will she want to get to know her dad, or send him packing?
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