Owen Turner
Encyclopedia
Owen Turner is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Lee Ross
. He originally appeared in the show in 2006, and then returned in 2009. His character left in 2009 after being murdered by Lucas Johnson
.
. He arrives in Walford
looking for Libby, whom he has not seen since Denise divorced and left him, due to his alcohol problem. Denise sleeps with Owen, and a couple of days later, he hits her, witnessed by Denise's daughters, Chelsea
(Tiana Benjamin
) and Libby. Denise ends their relationship so, drunk, Owen holds her hostage in her flat. He drags her up the stairs by her hair and she stabs him with a fork. After Denise's boyfriend Kevin Wicks
(Phil Daniels
) and Libby notice Denise's absence, they call the police and Owen is arrested. His mother Liz (Kate Williams
) visits him in prison. Owen goes on trial and receives a six-month sentence, suspended
for two years.
Owen kidnaps Libby and takes her to Epping Forest
in a car stolen from Kevin's car lot. He drugs her and phones Denise, telling her that she will not have to worry about them now. He tries to kill himself and Libby by filling the car with exhaust fumes but Libby escapes. When Denise arrives at the forest and calls Libby's name, she calls back, but Owen grabs her and tries to drown her in a stream. She falls unconscious and Owen jumps into the stream himself. Denise arrives to see Libby, unconscious, on the bank of the stream. Owen is revived by paramedics and arrested. He received a five-year prison sentence.
Owen sends Libby a card from prison on her 18th birthday, and Libby's grandmother, Liz, also contacts her, telling her that after three years in prison, he is sober and would like to see her. Libby visits Owen, who apologises for his behaviour and tells her that he will be released soon and wants to be her father again. She agrees but when Denise finds out, she is livid. Libby forces her to visit Owen in an attempt to prove that he has changed. However, despite taking responsibility for his actions, she does not trust him and insists he will not change. When she gets home, she tells Libby that Owen will not be part of their lives. Liz is about to leave for Spain but Owen persuades her to stay, telling her that he will keep going until Libby and Denise forgive him. He is released from prison on 12 October 2009 and returns to Walford, despite a restraining order, and works for Jim Branning
, decorating his house. Patrick Trueman
discovers he is there and threatens to call the police and tell Denise but Jim reminds him of his son Paul Trueman
, and instead Patrick calls Libby, who visits from Oxford, where she is at university. Owen is then invited for lunch with the family, and starts getting on with Denise and Libby. Denise's fiancé, Lucas
immediately takes a dislike to him, and punches him in an alleyway. Owen fights back, telling Lucas that he knows Lucas is not who Denise really thinks he is. Liz finds out about the attack, and urges Owen to tell Denise. Owen reveals his bruises and Denise forces Lucas to apologise. Lucas sees Denise walking away from Owen's home and visits Owen, armed with a knife in his pocket. He tells Owen to leave Walford, and when they shake hands, Lucas has blood on his hands. As Lucas's jealousy about Owen and Denise's relationship grows, he calls the police and Owen is arrested but released on appeal.
Owen has a brief relationship with Ronnie Mitchell
after they bond one night, talking about their daughters. They agree the next morning that it should remain a one-off and Ronnie is warned off Owen by Denise. Owen is sure Lucas was involved in his estranged wife Trina's death and Chelsea tells him that she found Lucas with Trina's bracelet. Lucas explains that Denise was hiding it. Convinced that Lucas killed her, he tells him that he knows and threatens to tell the police. Lucas strangles him in Phil Mitchell
's car and puts him in the boot, later burying him under Trina's memorial tree. Both Liz and Libby feel guilty about what they said to Owen; though Liz most of all as she senses something bad has happened to him, and so she phones him, but gets no answer.
After a brief departure, Ronnie inquires on Owen's location, only to learn he has apparently run away. The police are also looking for him as his absence had breached his license and they intend to send him back to prison. Ronnie reveals to her sister, Roxy
, that she is pregnant and the baby is Owen's. Ronnie admits while she feels something for Owen, her feelings are almost entirely for the baby. However, she later suffers a miscarriage. After Liz thinks Owen has disowned her after not returning any of her calls, she decides to give up and returns to Spain. However, she returns again as her suspicions about Owen are aroused even further. She reveals that since Owen was 16, he would always give her daffodils on her birthday. Lucas overhears this and sends lillies
from Owen, leaving Liz more suspicious as they are her least favourite flowers. In June 2010, the tree is broken and Owen's body is discovered by Leon Small
as he attempts to replace it, and Lucas confesses to Denise that he killed Owen, claiming self defence. However, Lucas kidnaps Denise, faking her death and blaming her for the murder. Eventually, she escapes and Lucas is arrested for his crimes.
Owen's funeral happened 2 days after Lucas arrest, but the funeral was never shown on screen.
in 2006 as the estranged father of the already established character Libby Fox
(Belinda Owusu
) and ex-partner of Libby's mother Denise Fox
(Diane Parish
). Actor Lee Ross was cast in the role and a backstory of a "disappointing" life and alcoholism was revealed in a press release before Owen's introduction. Ross said, "I'm very happy to be joining EastEnders and I'm looking forward to working alongside the entire cast including Phil Daniels
and Jake Wood
whom I've worked with before." Owen made his first appearance in June 2006.
In December 2009, Harwood's successor Diederick Santer
was asked if anything in the year had not gone as he expected it to. He replied: "Something else I didn't expect has been the way that the audience took Owen to their hearts to the extent that they did. It was really satisfying though, to 'redeem' a character in the audience's eyes in the way we did."
. The programme's executive producer, Kate Harwood
, defended the scene, saying, "in tackling the issue of domestic violence, it was important to reflect realistically the sort of violence suffered by the victims in these sorts of situations, rather than to put a gloss on it. We therefore took great care to signal the nature of the episode's content in advance." However, she acknowledged that some viewers would have found the scenes disturbing. Luton South
MP
Margaret Moran
, a member of the all-party parliamentary group on domestic violence, insisted the storyline illustrates real life and may encourage victims to speak out and get help, saying, "we can't hide these things away no matter what time of day it is. [...] Even though this episode was shown before the watershed it will have had a real resonance with children, showing them that they are not alone and can get help. EastEnders will have put contact numbers at the end of the episode for people who are experiencing domestic violence to call. This is based on the guidelines for the BBC I helped to write." Jeff Gardner of Victim Support Bedfordshire, also supported the storyline, saying "Dealing with domestic violence is a very sensitive and difficult thing to do. EastEnders has a large audience and if they were to sensitively raise the issues of domestic violence in the home and how people can get support in relation to it, then I would think that most people would want to support that."
In 2007, for his portrayal of Owen, Ross was nominated for the Villain of the Year award at the British Soap Awards
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, played by Lee Ross
Lee Ross (actor)
Lee Ross is an English professional actor best known for his role as Dodger in Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest. He has also starred in, Press Gang, Secrets & Lies, The Catherine Tate Show and most recently as Owen Turner in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Career:His first acting role was as Fat Sam in...
. He originally appeared in the show in 2006, and then returned in 2009. His character left in 2009 after being murdered by Lucas Johnson
Lucas Johnson
Lucas Aaron Johnson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Don Gilet. He made his first on-screen appearance on 3 April 2008. Lucas is introduced as a preacher and estranged father of established character Chelsea Fox. He has a son, Jordan, and goes on to marry...
.
Storylines
Owen is the ex-husband of Denise Fox and father of her daughter, LibbyLibby Fox
Elizabeth "Libby" Fox is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Belinda Owusu. She made her first appearance on 22 May 2006 and left in 2010. She is the daughter of Denise Fox and Owen Turner, and half sister of Chelsea Fox. The Fox family were introduced by executive...
. He arrives in Walford
Walford
Walford is a fictional borough of east London in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where one of the series' creators, Tony Holland, lived and a blend of Walthamstow, where Holland was born, and Stratford. The suffix 'ford' is also found throughout East...
looking for Libby, whom he has not seen since Denise divorced and left him, due to his alcohol problem. Denise sleeps with Owen, and a couple of days later, he hits her, witnessed by Denise's daughters, Chelsea
Chelsea Fox
Chelsea Fox is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tiana Benjamin. She first appeared on 5 May 2006 and was joined by her mother Denise and her half sister Libby. Benjamin announced her departure from the show in April 2010...
(Tiana Benjamin
Tiana Benjamin
Tiana Opium Benjamin is a British actress best known for playing Chelsea Fox in the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders.Benjamin trained at The Anna Scher Theatre School in London....
) and Libby. Denise ends their relationship so, drunk, Owen holds her hostage in her flat. He drags her up the stairs by her hair and she stabs him with a fork. After Denise's boyfriend Kevin Wicks
Kevin Wicks
Kevin Wicks is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Phil Daniels. He made his first appearance on 17 February 2006...
(Phil Daniels
Phil Daniels
Philip W. "Phil" Daniels is an English actor, most noted for film and television roles as "cockneys" such as Jimmy in Quadrophenia, Richards in Scum, Stewart in The Class of Miss MacMichael, Mark in Meantime, Kevin Wicks in EastEnders, DCS Frank Patterson in New Tricks and Edward Kitchener "Ted"...
) and Libby notice Denise's absence, they call the police and Owen is arrested. His mother Liz (Kate Williams
Kate Williams
Kate Williams is an English actress from London who trained at London's East 15 Acting School.She remains best known for two television roles: Joan Booth in the 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour and Audrey Withey in the crime drama Widows...
) visits him in prison. Owen goes on trial and receives a six-month sentence, suspended
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...
for two years.
Owen kidnaps Libby and takes her to Epping Forest
Epping Forest
Epping Forest is an area of ancient woodland in south-east England, straddling the border between north-east Greater London and Essex. It is a former royal forest, and is managed by the City of London Corporation....
in a car stolen from Kevin's car lot. He drugs her and phones Denise, telling her that she will not have to worry about them now. He tries to kill himself and Libby by filling the car with exhaust fumes but Libby escapes. When Denise arrives at the forest and calls Libby's name, she calls back, but Owen grabs her and tries to drown her in a stream. She falls unconscious and Owen jumps into the stream himself. Denise arrives to see Libby, unconscious, on the bank of the stream. Owen is revived by paramedics and arrested. He received a five-year prison sentence.
Owen sends Libby a card from prison on her 18th birthday, and Libby's grandmother, Liz, also contacts her, telling her that after three years in prison, he is sober and would like to see her. Libby visits Owen, who apologises for his behaviour and tells her that he will be released soon and wants to be her father again. She agrees but when Denise finds out, she is livid. Libby forces her to visit Owen in an attempt to prove that he has changed. However, despite taking responsibility for his actions, she does not trust him and insists he will not change. When she gets home, she tells Libby that Owen will not be part of their lives. Liz is about to leave for Spain but Owen persuades her to stay, telling her that he will keep going until Libby and Denise forgive him. He is released from prison on 12 October 2009 and returns to Walford, despite a restraining order, and works for Jim Branning
Jim Branning
James Archibald "Jim" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by John Bardon, first appearing on 29 April 1996 and becoming a regular character in 1999 and has remained in the series right up to 2011....
, decorating his house. Patrick Trueman
Patrick Trueman
Patrick Neville Loftus Alfonso Trueman is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Rudolph Walker. He made his first appearance on 13 September 2001.-Backstory:...
discovers he is there and threatens to call the police and tell Denise but Jim reminds him of his son Paul Trueman
Paul Trueman
Paul Trueman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gary Beadle between 2001 and 2004. Gary was introduced as part of the already established Trueman family. He was portrayed as a bad boy. Beadle left the role in 2004, following a suspension, reportedly for failing...
, and instead Patrick calls Libby, who visits from Oxford, where she is at university. Owen is then invited for lunch with the family, and starts getting on with Denise and Libby. Denise's fiancé, Lucas
Lucas Johnson
Lucas Aaron Johnson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Don Gilet. He made his first on-screen appearance on 3 April 2008. Lucas is introduced as a preacher and estranged father of established character Chelsea Fox. He has a son, Jordan, and goes on to marry...
immediately takes a dislike to him, and punches him in an alleyway. Owen fights back, telling Lucas that he knows Lucas is not who Denise really thinks he is. Liz finds out about the attack, and urges Owen to tell Denise. Owen reveals his bruises and Denise forces Lucas to apologise. Lucas sees Denise walking away from Owen's home and visits Owen, armed with a knife in his pocket. He tells Owen to leave Walford, and when they shake hands, Lucas has blood on his hands. As Lucas's jealousy about Owen and Denise's relationship grows, he calls the police and Owen is arrested but released on appeal.
Owen has a brief relationship with Ronnie Mitchell
Ronnie Mitchell
Veronica Elizabeth "Ronnie" Branning is a fictional character from the British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Samantha Womack. Ronnie and her sister Roxy were introduced by executive producer Diederick Santer in July 2007; Ronnie is the "ice" to Roxy's "fire"...
after they bond one night, talking about their daughters. They agree the next morning that it should remain a one-off and Ronnie is warned off Owen by Denise. Owen is sure Lucas was involved in his estranged wife Trina's death and Chelsea tells him that she found Lucas with Trina's bracelet. Lucas explains that Denise was hiding it. Convinced that Lucas killed her, he tells him that he knows and threatens to tell the police. Lucas strangles him in Phil Mitchell
Phil Mitchell
Philip James "Phil" Mitchell is a long-running fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden.Phil first arrived in Albert Square on 20 February 1990, and was soon joined by his brother, Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy...
's car and puts him in the boot, later burying him under Trina's memorial tree. Both Liz and Libby feel guilty about what they said to Owen; though Liz most of all as she senses something bad has happened to him, and so she phones him, but gets no answer.
After a brief departure, Ronnie inquires on Owen's location, only to learn he has apparently run away. The police are also looking for him as his absence had breached his license and they intend to send him back to prison. Ronnie reveals to her sister, Roxy
Roxy Mitchell
Roxanne Lizette "Roxy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portrayed by Rita Simons. Roxy arrived in Walford with her sister Ronnie on 24 July 2007 and decided to move permanently to Walford from Ibiza where they ran a bar together. Roxy is the younger of the two...
, that she is pregnant and the baby is Owen's. Ronnie admits while she feels something for Owen, her feelings are almost entirely for the baby. However, she later suffers a miscarriage. After Liz thinks Owen has disowned her after not returning any of her calls, she decides to give up and returns to Spain. However, she returns again as her suspicions about Owen are aroused even further. She reveals that since Owen was 16, he would always give her daffodils on her birthday. Lucas overhears this and sends lillies
Lilium
Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs. Most species are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, though the range extends into the northern subtropics...
from Owen, leaving Liz more suspicious as they are her least favourite flowers. In June 2010, the tree is broken and Owen's body is discovered by Leon Small
Leon Small
Leon Small is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders and its Internet spin-off EastEnders: E20, played by Sam Attwater. He made his first appearance in EastEnders on 5 January and appears in all twelve episodes of the first series of EastEnders: E20...
as he attempts to replace it, and Lucas confesses to Denise that he killed Owen, claiming self defence. However, Lucas kidnaps Denise, faking her death and blaming her for the murder. Eventually, she escapes and Lucas is arrested for his crimes.
Owen's funeral happened 2 days after Lucas arrest, but the funeral was never shown on screen.
Creation and development
Owen Turner was introduced by executive producer Kate HarwoodKate Harwood
Kate Harwood is a British television producer. She is currently the Head of Series and Serials at the BBC.-Early life:Kate graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Drama before becoming an Arts Council Trainee director with Century Theatre and then Literary Manager of the Royal...
in 2006 as the estranged father of the already established character Libby Fox
Libby Fox
Elizabeth "Libby" Fox is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Belinda Owusu. She made her first appearance on 22 May 2006 and left in 2010. She is the daughter of Denise Fox and Owen Turner, and half sister of Chelsea Fox. The Fox family were introduced by executive...
(Belinda Owusu
Belinda Owusu
Belinda Ruth Owusu is a British actress, who rose to prominence in 2006, aged 17, when she won the role of Libby Fox in BBC's EastEnders.-Career:...
) and ex-partner of Libby's mother Denise Fox
Denise Fox
Denise Celeste Fox is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Diane Parish. She made her first appearance on 11 May 2006. Parish temporarily left EastEnders in early 2008 to give birth to her second child...
(Diane Parish
Diane Parish
Diane Parish is a British actress best known for her role as Denise Johnson in the BBC Soap EastEnders and DC Eva Sharpe in The Bill.-Career:...
). Actor Lee Ross was cast in the role and a backstory of a "disappointing" life and alcoholism was revealed in a press release before Owen's introduction. Ross said, "I'm very happy to be joining EastEnders and I'm looking forward to working alongside the entire cast including Phil Daniels
Phil Daniels
Philip W. "Phil" Daniels is an English actor, most noted for film and television roles as "cockneys" such as Jimmy in Quadrophenia, Richards in Scum, Stewart in The Class of Miss MacMichael, Mark in Meantime, Kevin Wicks in EastEnders, DCS Frank Patterson in New Tricks and Edward Kitchener "Ted"...
and Jake Wood
Jake Wood
Jake Dylan Wood is an English actor, best known in his homeland for playing Max Branning on "EastEnders" and in the United States as the current voice of the GEICO gecko.-Biography:...
whom I've worked with before." Owen made his first appearance in June 2006.
In December 2009, Harwood's successor Diederick Santer
Diederick Santer
Diederick Santer is a British television producer and is best known for his work on the popular BBC television soap opera EastEnders, a post which he assumed on 23 October 2006 and left on 1 March 2010...
was asked if anything in the year had not gone as he expected it to. He replied: "Something else I didn't expect has been the way that the audience took Owen to their hearts to the extent that they did. It was really satisfying though, to 'redeem' a character in the audience's eyes in the way we did."
Reception
The scene involving Owen violently attacking Denise prompted 128 complaints from viewers, who believed it should not have been shown before the 9 p.m. watershedWatershed (television)
In television, the term watershed denotes the time period in a television schedule during which programs with adult content can air....
. The programme's executive producer, Kate Harwood
Kate Harwood
Kate Harwood is a British television producer. She is currently the Head of Series and Serials at the BBC.-Early life:Kate graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Drama before becoming an Arts Council Trainee director with Century Theatre and then Literary Manager of the Royal...
, defended the scene, saying, "in tackling the issue of domestic violence, it was important to reflect realistically the sort of violence suffered by the victims in these sorts of situations, rather than to put a gloss on it. We therefore took great care to signal the nature of the episode's content in advance." However, she acknowledged that some viewers would have found the scenes disturbing. Luton South
Luton South (UK Parliament constituency)
Luton South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Margaret Moran
Margaret Moran
Margaret Moran is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She was the Member of Parliament for Luton South from 1997 to 2010....
, a member of the all-party parliamentary group on domestic violence, insisted the storyline illustrates real life and may encourage victims to speak out and get help, saying, "we can't hide these things away no matter what time of day it is. [...] Even though this episode was shown before the watershed it will have had a real resonance with children, showing them that they are not alone and can get help. EastEnders will have put contact numbers at the end of the episode for people who are experiencing domestic violence to call. This is based on the guidelines for the BBC I helped to write." Jeff Gardner of Victim Support Bedfordshire, also supported the storyline, saying "Dealing with domestic violence is a very sensitive and difficult thing to do. EastEnders has a large audience and if they were to sensitively raise the issues of domestic violence in the home and how people can get support in relation to it, then I would think that most people would want to support that."
In 2007, for his portrayal of Owen, Ross was nominated for the Villain of the Year award at the British Soap Awards
British Soap Awards
The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to...
.