Lisa wants revenge on Keanu – but is that all? (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
EastEnders’ fans still reeling from the surprise return of Ian and Cindy Beale (Adam Woodyatt and Michelle Collins) to the show have another exciting return to look forward to as Lisa Fowler, played by Lucy Benjamin, comes back to Albert Square in the July 10 episode.
The character has been living in Portugal with her daughter Louise and granddaughter Peggy. While Louise stays behind, Lisa turns up in Walford with Peggy – which comes as a shock to Peggy’s dad, Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters).
It was the Christmas reveal of Sharon (Letitia Dean) and Keanu’s affair three years ago that prompted Lisa to leave Albert Square – and Lisa’s return doesn’t spell good news for the couple, as Lucy Benjamin explained.
‘She’s full of bitterness and anger and hate towards them because of what they did to her daughter. She’s absolutely consumed by that,’ she revealed.
‘She feels justified in being all guns blazing and coming hammer and tongs for Keanu. And she’s angry that they seem to be having a great life together when Louise is in bits back in Portugal. She’s full of resentment towards them.’
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Lisa sets about blackmailing Keanu, and Lucy told us that she’s prepared to use Peggy as ammunition against him.
‘I think she’s squared off in her own head that she’s justified in coming back and blackmailing Keanu, because she thinks that actually, he’s been a really bad dad,’ she insisted. ‘He’s been an absent father and she’s within her rights to be asking him for money to look after Peggy.’
Lisa is prepared to use Peggy in her plan (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
Gradually it becomes clear that there’s something else going on, and Lisa has a second motive for going after Keanu, according to Lucy. ‘It unravels that there’s another reason why she is blackmailing Keanu. So, ultimately, she is using Peggy in a way, but that really sits uncomfortably with me that she’s doing that! But I think that she is a bit of a tool for her.’
Lucy also told us that Lisa’s secret doesn’t stay a secret for very long, and soon Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) – Lisa’s ex – becomes involved.
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‘Things do get revealed quite quickly, and Phil is part of that reveal,’ she said. ‘Through blackmailing Keanu, inevitably that kind of involves Phil in the whole blackmailing thing because that’s where Keanu has to use Phil as a way to get some of the money. So, indirectly, Phil then gets involved in it even more so than Lisa would ever really want. She just wants to keep him at bay because of the damage that he can cause her, I think.
‘She’s definitely learnt to be a lot stronger with him now, and she’s got this bravado I think when it comes to Phil. But it wouldn’t take much for him to make her crumble really, because he knows her very well. He knows her inside out and that’s always a bit of a worry for her.’
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Lisa comes back on a mission.