Fi Browning

Sophie 'Fi' Browning (née Willmott-Brown) made her first appearance on 31 March 1987 portrayed by Natasha Knight. She is now portrayed by Lisa Faulkner. 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

Sophie returned on 27th 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 and tried to kiss Mick but he rejected this saying he is a "One-Woman Man", 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 (4th September 2017) Fi gave a speech to representing 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 Nax hates the square which is overheard by Jane Beale. During September 2017 Fi has started to become more open and has started to doubt Max's plan. When Max was having second thoughts about his plan (12th September 2017) Fi reasured him that he is strong and that is why she was attracted to him, but she became tired of him always mentioning Ian and Jane Beale and when Max kept talking about Ian and how much he's been through Fi walked away from him.

The same month, Sophie 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, obviously to retrieve it, she puts it back and smiles, Max not knowing she had seen it. Later that day, in the Queen Victoria, he kisses Sophie in front of almost the entire Square, including Carmel and his own family. The remainder of the Willmott-Brown 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 Sophie. He only holds the box out, and James (Sophie's father), tells him to get down on one knee and ask properly. He asks properly, but doesn't get on a knee. She starts shaking her head and stutters Max's name. James starts laughing, and Max asks him what is going on. James tells him he has been useful, but all good things come to an end. He shows him a cheque for 350,000 pounds payable to Max, and throws it in the fireplace. The Willmott-Brown family are thrown out of the pub by the Carters.

Later in the episode, Kathy tells Sophie everything James did to her. Sophie doesn't originally believe her, but at the end looks quite convinced.

On the episode dated 28th December 2017, earlier in the episode he was seen telling Fi, his daughter, that he keeps some documents in his safe that could have the potential to bring Weland&Co down. Fi then brings up Kathy's rape and she says she believes Kathy's story and James reacts really badly and he has her escorted of the premises and shouts to take away her security access. He then goes to Kathy's shop and they talk about what happened and that he was was wrongly imprisioned in April 1989. He tries to kiss her but she rejects him and grabs him and threatens him saying if she ever saw him again she would find the sharpest knife and serve it to him in a sandwich after which he leaves her alone

. Previous to his return at the office, Fi enters the office and breaks into his 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 realizes 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.

Sophie later forces Hugo Browning into signing the deeds of all the Walford properties over to her, therefore ending Weyland & Co. Sophie then returns to the square with Max Branning, 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 Beale the contract for the Café she then Hugs Kathy and runs off.

Family

The only family that is known of (As of 1st September 2017) is her mum and her younger brother who were not named, Fi was very negatively affected by her mother's death, her mother had killed herself a while before she moved to walford, Fi returned home to find her dead and questioned why it had to be her who found her dead and not her brother, her brother had been at rugby practice while Fi was going home. On the 7th September she was seen calling her father who was later revealed as James Willmott-Brown. On the 21st September 2017 Josh Hemmings was revealed as her younger brother and on the 22nd September 2017 James Willmott-Brown was revealed as her father and Hugo Browning was revealed as her uncle.

Gallery

Sophie Willmott-Brown (31 March 1987)

Sophie and Luke Willmott-Brown (31 March 1987)

Sophie and Luke Willmott-Brown (31 March 1987)

Sophie and Luke Willmott-Brown (31 March 1987)

Fi Browning Promo © BBC/ Nicky Johnston

Fi Browning Promo

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