Sophie 'Fi' Browning (née Willmott-Brown) made her first appearance on 31 March 1987 and is portrayed by Natasha Knight. In 2017, when the character returned, Lisa Faulkner took over the role. Fi is shown to be quite professional and intelligent, but is also very deceptive but under all of this, she has a soft side.
Storylines[]
1987-1992[]
Sophie Willmott-Brown first appeared in March 1987, visiting her father, James Willmott-Brown, with her brother, Luke Willmott-Brown. They return to live with their mother in July. During their stay, they become friendly with Emine Osman, Rayif Osman and Murat Osman.
Sophie appears once again in January 1992, following James' release from prison.
2017[]
Sophie returned on 27 April 2017. Sophie, under the name Fi, and was was hired by Mick Carter, unbeknownst to Linda Carter, who was angry when she returned to find Fi at the Vic. Mick tells Linda that Fi is helping the Queen Vic get more customers and profit but it was revealed that Fi was the partner of Max Branning and was also aiding him in his revenge plan on the people of Walford.
In early September 2017, she showed her soft side and opened up to Mick about her mother's tragic death and how she was the one who found her when she died. Fi tried to kiss Mick but he rejected this saying he is a "one-woman man" though kissing whine alot whitney . In the same episode she was shown to have some sort of connection with Josh Hemmings who works for Weyland & Co.
During Walford in Bloom (4 September 2017), Fi gave a speech to represent the company that is working with the Vic to raise profits but was interrupted by protesters which angered her, she then walked off, and when Max made sarcastic remarks about her speech, she confronted him about how much Max hates the Square which is overheard by Jane Beale.
On 21 September 2017, Josh was revealed as Fi's younger half-brother sadly, James was revealed as Fi's father and Hugo Browning was revealed as her uncle.
Fi started to become more open and doubted Max's plan. When Max was having second thoughts about his plan, Fi reassured him that he is strong and that is why she was attracted to him. Fi walked away from Max after becoming tired of him always mentioning Ian and Jane and how much they've been through.
Later, Fi requests that Max starts a relationship with Carmel Kazemi, as she works in the planning department at the council and they may be able to extract useful information from her.
In December 2017, Carmel Kazemi finds an engagement ring which Max had dropped on the sofa the day before. When Max comes later to retrieve it, she puts it back and smiles, with Max not knowing she had seen it. Later that day, in the Vic, he kisses Fi in front of almost the entire Square, including Carmel and his own family. The remainder of Willmott-Brown's family enter and reveal to everyone that Weyland & Co own Grafton Hill, and as a result the pub, much to Kathy's horror. After this, Max proposes to Fi. He only holds the box out and James tells him to get down on one knee and ask properly. He asks properly, but doesn't get down on a knee. She starts shaking her head and stutters Max's name.
Kathy tells Fi everything that James did to her. Fi doesn't originally believe her, but at the end looks quite convinced. Fi brings up Kathy's rape and she tells James that she believes Kathy's story. James reacts really badly and he has her escorted of the premises and shouts to take away her security access.
Fi later returns to the office and breaks into James' safe, stealing the crucial documents and handing them into the police. James returns to the office and pours himself some whisky and then he notices his desk has been trashed and he sees his safe open and realises the crucial documents are missing and the police are attempting to break into his office. He tried to shred the rest of his documents and then he suffers a heart attack, just as the police enter the room.
Fi later forces Hugo into signing the deeds of all the Walford properties over to her, therefore ending Weyland & Co. Sophie then returns to the Square with Max, offering Linda and Mick the chance to buy back the Queen Vic for the price they sold it for. Mick says he will think about it, however Linda says no because they didn't have the money. Max returns to the hospital while Fi gives Kathy the contract for the café. She then hugs Kathy and runs off. Fi has not been seen since.