Vicki Fowler - Reception

Reception

According to author Hilary Kingsley, the scenes in EastEnders' early years that showed toddler Vicki "chattering happily" with the baby actor who played her uncle Martin (Jon Peyton Price) were viewer favourites. EastEnders was criticised in 1993 for featuring a storyline about child abduction at an inappropriate time. In the storyline, 6-year old Vicki was abducted, leaving Michelle frantic with worry. In what has been described as a "coincidence of ill-timing," the storyline was screened at the same time as the real-life abduction and murder of 2-year-old James Bulger. The BBC was forced to transmit a health warning prior to the airing of the episodes, announcing that the storyline would be "resolved positively."

In the book, Social Issues in Television, a senior, nameless script editor opined that the abduction storyline sought to engage the audience at the expense of any parent's realistic concerns: "We get it wrong when we take the easy route like the kidnap snatch with Vicki. My argument about this was that I am a father but have never had my kids snatched. If I'm just sitting at home and my children are out late at night and they say they're going to be back at midnight and they don't come back, you immediately think they're dead and you start to worry. If they'd actually been snatched, it would have affected my entire life forever. I would never have recovered from it. I would have been frightened every time one of them left my side. Therefore the consequence of running a storyline like that is immense. If we were being totally responsible about it the fallout on Michelle would have been, well I just don't think she would have been the same person again."

The character received media criticism due to her American accent upon her reintroduction in 2003. Johnson said, "I knew that would happen because I'm the only character who speaks differently. I haven't taken any of that to heart." However, when the accent was altered from American to British, this received criticism too with Ian Hyland from the Daily Mirror describing it as "hilarious" and branding the character "Go Away Again Vicki". He added, "Presumably the producers decided the reason viewers found her so annoying was her whiny American voice. Try again, guys." Upon her departure in 2004, Johnson was also critical about her character's alternating accent: "When I took the job they weren't sure what accent they wanted Vicki to have and about a week before they told me it should be American. I did that for a few months and then one day out of the blue I arrived on set and they told me they wanted me to change to Cockney. It was the producer's decision. I was as stunned as everyone else - all the criticism was perfectly justified. It's probably the most stupid decision they could have made. People assumed I was slipping out of the accent - but it was nothing to do with me. I've taken a lot of stick. But it doesn't bother me because I know the truth."

A proportion of viewers responded negatively when Vicki was shown to have an abortion. Johnson claims she received abusive letters from fans of the show and that she was stopped in the street twice by older women who told her "it was quite wrong to have got rid of the baby. I found that awkward at the time. But, gradually, I came to realise it was rather flattering. Those women believed in my character so completely they forgot she wasn't real. So now I think I must have been doing a good job." Johnson has since been critical of the storylines given to her character describing them as weak.