Chelsea Fox

Chelsea Atkins
Zaraah Abrahams as Chelsea Atkins (2021)
EastEnders character
Portrayed by	Tiana Benjamin (2006–2010) Zaraah Abrahams (2020–present)
Duration	2006–2010, 2020–present
First appearance	Episode 3147 5 May 2006 (2006-05-05)
Introduced by	Kate Harwood (2006) Kate Oates and Jon Sen (2020)
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Other names	Chelsea Atkins
Occupation	Waitress Beautician Shop assistant Barmaid
Tiana Benjamin as Chelsea Fox (2009)
Family Father Lucas Johnson Mother Denise Fox Stepfather Owen Turner Kevin Wicks Half-brothers Jordan Johnson Raymond Dawkins Half-sisters Libby Fox Husband Gray Atkins (2021–present) Sons Jordan Atkins Stepsons Mackenzie Atkins Stepdaughters Mia Atkins Aunts Kim Fox Daphne Fox Nephews JJ Johnson First cousins Pearl Fox Mica Fox

Chelsea Atkins (also Fox) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tiana Benjamin from 2006 to 2010, and then Zaraah Abrahams from 2020 onwards. Benjamin was cast in the role and she left her role in the Harry Potter film series to appear in the soap, she made her first appearance as Chelsea in episode 3147, broadcast on 5 May 2006 as she is introduced as part of the all-female Fox family alongside her mother, Denise Fox (Diane Parish), and half-sister, Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu). Benjamin announced her departure from the show in April 2010, and she left in episode 4047, broadcast on 5 August 2010. In October 2020, the character's return was announced alongside Abrahams' casting, Chelsea returns in episode 6188/6189, broadcast on 25 December 2020.

Storylines[]

2006–2010[]

Upon Chelsea's arrival, she is seduced by Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), unaware he is dating her to make Jane Collins (Laurie Brett) jealous. However, when Denise uncovers the truth, Grant ends the relationship. Chelsea becomes friends with Deano Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) and initially works for Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) at his video shop, but is sacked. She then finds employment at Tanya Branning's (Jo Joyner) salon, Booty, and falls for Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky). Although, Sean is promiscuous and pursues other women, including Tanya and Carly Wicks (Kellie Shirley), while Chelsea wants a serious relationship. Attempting to keep Sean away from Carly, Chelsea sets her up on a date with Warren Stamp (Will Mellor), who tries to assault Carly. Sean rescues her and animosity between the girls escalates, particularly when Sean dumps Chelsea for Carly. Carly's brother, Deano, is attracted to Chelsea and, using this to her advantage, she and Deano sabotage Carly and Sean's relationship. When Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) is attacked, Chelsea and Deano frame Sean, stealing CCTV evidence that clears Sean but Carly finds it and gives it to the police. Sean is released and the police charge Chelsea and Deano with perverting the course of justice. Sean gets revenge by cutting Chelsea's hair while she sleeps and having Deano beaten by a gang of thugs. She and Deano are sentenced to six months imprisonment and released after three.

Chelsea befriends Shabnam Masood (Zahra Ahmadi) in hopes to get closer to Jalil Iqbal (Jan Uddin), but is devastated when he chooses Shabnam. Helped by her sister, Libby, Chelsea traces her father, Lucas Johnson (Don Gilet), who left her and Denise 20 years ago. She confronts him, revealing that she is his daughter but leaves before he responds. Two months later, Lucas appears. Chelsea is reluctant to see him but eventually agrees to go out for a birthday meal. However, she leaves on discovering that she has a half-brother, Jordan (Michael-Joel David Stuart).

She buys drugs from Sean and steals money from work to buy more but gets beaten up by a group of girls. Tanya fires her and Patrick catches her taking cocaine. He locks her in her room and calls Lucas to help. When he arrives, Chelsea has escaped through the bedroom window. Lucas finds her in R&R nightclub, high on cocaine, and takes her home. Chelsea gets her job back at Booty. She falls in love with Theo Kelly (Rolan Bell), but upon dating, Chelsea feels excluded from Theo and his university friends. She later cheats on him with a footballer named Ellis Prince (Michael Obiora), who offers her drugs. A guilt-ridden Chelsea confesses her infidelity to Theo and despite his forgiving her, insists she cannot be with him and ends the relationship. She resumes her relationship with Ellis but Lucas finds the drugs Ellis gave her and confronts Chelsea. She runs away with Ellis, leaving a note for her family but returns on Libby's birthday, demanding to know why Libby's grandmother, Liz Turner (Kate Williams) is in Albert Square, forcing her to admit she has been visiting her father, Owen Turner (Lee Ross), in prison and is glad that he is going to be released. Chelsea is cautious of her family's safety when Owen returns to the Square, and pleads with him not to bring up the suspicious death of Lucas's ex-wife, Trina Johnson (Sharon Duncan Brewster), again as Denise was a suspect and could get in trouble.

Chelsea and Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) both pursue Dr. Al Jenkins (Adam Croasdell), becoming rivals as the doctor is dating them both secretly. Chelsea assists Jordan in his protest to get a tree planted in Trina's memory and manages to win Al. However, just before Chelsea and Al get together, Roxy turns up at his office dressed as a nurse, so Chelsea leaves, embarrassed. Despite this, when Roxy inherits The Queen Victoria public house, she employs Chelsea as a barmaid. Denise sets Chelsea up on a blind date with an associate of Lucas's called Matthew, but Chelsea does not enjoy the date and tells Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) she wants to leave. While she is in the toilet, Jack tells Matthew that Chelsea has a boyfriend so he leaves. Chelsea and Jack start dating and she returns to work at the salon, now named Roxy's. When Jack is shot and hospitalised, Chelsea declares her love for him and stays with him in hospital but Jack ends it as he is still in love with Ronnie. Later, Chelsea and her colleague Amira Masood (Preeya Kalidas) worry that they are pregnant and take pregnancy tests. Amira's is negative but Chelsea's is positive. She decides to keep the baby but decides not to tell Jack as it would not change anything but she does not want to be a single mother. After Denise sees Chelsea crying and spending time with Zainab Masood's (Nina Wadia) baby, Kamil (Arian Chikhlia), she tells Libby that she thinks Chelsea is pregnant. Chelsea admits it when Denise asks her and they have a heart-to-heart, which Lucas joins in. She takes the test again and realises she is not pregnant but tells her parents that she'll make her own decisions. She tells Amira that it was her test that was positive and promises to keep her secret when she leaves Walford after learning that her husband Syed (Marc Elliott) is gay.

Chelsea goes on to celebrate her birthday and discovers Denise has put a picture of Chelsea in the newspaper wearing a cowboy suit. Much to Chelsea's embarrassment, so she decides to buy all the newspapers so people will not mock her. When Roxy discovers it is Chelsea's birthday she decides to throw her a western themed birthday. Chelsea starts to fall for the DJ but Roxy is caught kissing him.

When Owen's body is discovered buried under the Square, Denise is taken for questioning. Chelsea thinks that Denise may have killed Trina and Owen as Lucas had told her that Denise was hiding Trina's bracelet in her bag. Chelsea tells Libby about the bracelet, and after Denise is released without charge, they see her leaving the Square alone and receive a text message from her saying "I'm sorry", unaware that Lucas killed Owen and confessed to Denise, took her to a canal and strangled her, sending the text message before he threw the phone in the canal. The police tell the family that Denise's car has been found by the canal and a body is pulled from the water along with Denise's mobile phone. Chelsea wonders who her mother really is and says it makes her some kind of monster. She offers to go with Lucas to identify the body but she is unable to go in so he goes in alone and identifies it as Denise, leaving Chelsea devastated. Chelsea believes that her mother killed Owen and then herself. After Denise's funeral, Chelsea and Libby agree to start packing up Denise's belongings. While celebrating Libby's birthday, Denise walks in, revealing that she is not dead but that Lucas has been keeping her prisoner, and that he killed Trina and Owen. Chelsea tells her to stay away from her, calling her a murderer. Lucas enters and confirms that Denise is telling the truth but Chelsea says he is covering up for her and she faked her own death. However, Lucas takes the family hostage, but when Jordan arrives, they escape and Lucas is arrested.

Chelsea says she no longer has a normal family, and argues with Libby over their parents. After speaking to Liz, Chelsea decides she wants to move to Spain with her, as people in Walford will only ever think of her as the daughter of a murderer. Denise initially argues with Chelsea about this, but eventually agrees, encouraging Libby to go too for a holiday before returning to university. After leaving drinks in The Queen Victoria pub, Chelsea, Libby and Liz leave Walford in the back of a taxi.

In November 2011, Amira states that Chelsea is living in Málaga, Spain. In May 2014, Denise goes to Spain with Libby to celebrate Chelsea's birthday. In August 2015, when Libby returns to Walford for her birthday, Chelsea calls her, urging her to tell Denise something, but Libby cannot go through with it. In December 2015, Libby reveals to Denise that Jordan briefly lived with her and Chelsea in Spain, however he caused an endless amount of trouble for them, so Chelsea kicked him out.

2020–present[]

In December 2020, Denise is surprised to see Chelsea (now played by Zaraah Abrahams) with her father Lucas, who has recently been released from prison. Chelsea later returns to Albert Square, where she reveals to Denise that she has been in communication with Lucas for months and is upset with Denise for not telling her about her son Raymond. After an argument with Denise, Chelsea leaves with Lucas. Patrick, in cooperation with Raymond's father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), meets Chelsea at The Queen Victoria public house to find out about Lucas' whereabouts. Later that day, Lucas is attacked in front of Chelsea after they leave a restaurant. Phil is blamed for Lucas's attack, but it is Chelsea's ex-boyfriend Caleb Malone (Ben Freeman) who arranged Lucas's attack. Chelsea is indebted to Caleb after fleecing him and she is planning on using Lucas to smuggle drugs for Caleb. Chelsea arranges to travel to Spain with Lucas, planning to use him to smuggle drugs, but ultimately fails. Denise confronts Lucas about upsetting Chelsea, and they both go missing. Chelsea finds blood in Lucas's flat, and believes that Lucas has hurt Denise and kidnapped her, but Chelsea later discovers that Caleb is responsible. Denise discovers the truth and reluctantly agrees to help Chelsea frame Lucas. They try to convince Lucas to follow Chelsea to Ibiza, but he later discovers their intentions. Lucas vows to kill Caleb but Chelsea threatens to abandon Lucas, having not forgiving him for faking Denise's death, and warns him that Caleb will kill her. When Denise's boyfriend and Chelsea's ex-lover Jack discovers Chelsea's plan, she attempts to seduce him to stop him from reporting her to the police. Lucas is ashamed of Chelsea's behavior, and refuses to do the job unless she follows him to church, where he tells Chelsea to go to the police and face imprisonment. After a heart to heart, Lucas agrees to do the job, but changes his mind leaving Chelsea alone. He is later arrested after being caught, and Chelsea later tips the police off when Caleb asks her to meet him, and he is arrested.

Chelsea begins a relationship with Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith) in June 2021, which is met with strong opposition by his mother and father-in-law Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) and Mitch Baker (Roger Griffiths). During their relationship, Chelsea fleeces Gray by living extravagantly off his credit card and shows no interest in his children, Mia (Mahalia Malcolm) and Mack (Isaac Lemonius), frequently neglecting them when they are in her care. Their relationship comes to an end, when Chelsea witnesses Gray's volatile behavior towards her and others, and refuses to be mistreated by Gray. However, Chelsea later discovers she has been impregnated by Gray, and plans to have an abortion, but is stopped by Gray's fling, Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty). Whitney accompanies her to the abortion clinic, but after having a scan and finding out she is further along than expected, Chelsea decides to keep the baby. She decides to keep the pregnancy a secret from Gray and to raise the child alone, but Whitney urges her to tell Gray. Gray finds out about Chelsea's pregnancy and initially agrees to have no involvement, but has a change of heart and decides that he wants to raise the child together with Chelsea. They later get engaged. On the day of their wedding, Whitney reveals to Chelsea that Gray had murdered his wife Chantelle Atkins (Jessica Plummer). Chelsea decides to stop the wedding but is manipulated by Gray, who reveals that Whitney had kissed him. They eventually marry on Christmas Day 2021, but Chelsea later discovers Gray’s abuse on Chantelle, when Whitney sends her screenshots of Chantelle’s revelation of the abuse that she posted online. She then vows to leave Gray. She steals money from Ruby's and plans on fleeing to Ibiza, but is stopped in her tracks by Gray, when he realises that she has stolen jewellery. When Gray confronts Chelsea, her waters break, and she is rushed to hospital, where she goes into premature labour, with Gray helping her. She gives birth to a son, Jordan Atkins, named after her deceased half-brother. Chelsea decides to stay with Gray, but later reveals to Whitney that she is temporarily using him for stability, and is planning to expose him.

Creation and development[]

On 12 January 2006, an official BBC press report announced the introduction of a new character to EastEnders, Chelsea Fox. Chelsea was due to be part of a new, all female family joining the show, with Chelsea's mother Denise and her sister Libby (played by Diane Parish and Belinda Owusu respectively) completing the clan. The role was cast to Tiana Benjamin, who was 21 at the time. Benjamin has revealed that she was the second Fox to be cast, and on her final audition, she had a workshop and met Diane Parish there. Owusu was cast at a later date.^[1] Of her casting, Benjamin said "I've been a big fan of EastEnders since I was little and I'm very excited to join the show. I've always really admired Diane [Parish] and I can't wait to work with her – it really hasn't sunk in yet! [...] It's one of those jobs that's unlike any other. There's a lot that changes when you take on something as big as EastEnders. I [am] really happy and genuinely excited to be a part of the show."^[1][2] She added that the three actors who play the Fox family have a bond, commenting "We all respect and understand each other, and manage to have a good time while we're filming too. I felt that we clicked from our first few scenes together."^[1] Benjamin quit her role as Angelina Johnson in the Harry Potter film series, in order to take the part. Chelsea made her first screen appearance in May 2006 and was the first of the Fox family to be seen by viewers.

Departure[]

In April 2010, it was announced that Benjamin had chosen to leave the show to pursue other projects. Of her decision, she said "I have had an amazing time at EastEnders and this has been a very difficult decision for me to make but now seems like the right time to move on and leave Chelsea behind even through she's been such a fantastic character to play."^[3] Her final episode was broadcast on 5 August 2010.^[4]

Recast and return[]

It was announced in October 2020 that the character would be reintroduced with the role recast to actress Zaraah Abrahams. The announcement followed the news that Don Gilet would reprise his role as Chelsea's father, Lucas Johnson.^[5] Abrahams expressed her excitement at joining the cast, while Jon Sen, the show's executive producer, praised Abrahams' casting and commented, "When Chelsea was around, trouble was never far away and that is as true as ever when she returns to Walford later this year".^[5]

References[]

External links[]

• Chelsea Fox at BBC Online