Zoe Slater

Zoe Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Ryan. She made her first appearance on 18 September 2000. Zoe arrives in Walford along with her father, Charlie Slater (Derek Martin); sisters Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), Lynne Hobbs (Elaine Lordan), Little Mo Mitchell (Kacey Ainsworth); and grandmother Mo Harris (Laila Morse). In January 2005, it was announced that Ryan would be leaving the soap, with Zoe's departure airing on 24 June 2005. Despite turning down several offers to return over the next 20 years, in May 2025, it was reported that Ryan agreed to reprise the role of Zoe later in the year. The following month, the character made an unannounced return in the episode broadcast on 16 June.

Following their arrival, it later emerges that Zoe is in fact Kat's daughter and a product of incest after Kat was raped by her uncle Harry Slater (Michael Elphick) in 1983, and Zoe was legally adopted by Kat's parents, Charlie and Viv. This was nominated for Best Storyline at the British Soap Awards, as well as winning Best Single Episode in 2002. Another highly acclaimed storyline was Zoe's friendship with Kelly Taylor (Brooke Kinsella). In 2003, Zoe and Kelly made headlines in the UK in a New Year's Eve episode that was filmed on location in Scotland. In the storyline, Zoe, Kelly and others travel from London to Scotland, but their minibus crashes, leaving them stranded and injured on the freezing cold Scottish moors. While stranded, Kelly attends to an injured Zoe, leading to an emotional moment in which they share a kiss. The episode showcasing their kiss garnered 9.5 million viewers, with the exact moment of their kiss being watched by 44% of the available viewing audience.

One of Zoe's subsequent major storylines was when she became romantically involved with local hardman Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), which ends after Zoe lies about being pregnant and has sex with Dennis's father, Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) – though not before he pressured her into claiming that she is pregnant with Dennis's baby, as part of his last-ditch attempt to stop his adoptive daughter, Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), from leaving Albert Square. Her exit storyline centred around the murder of Den during the show's 20th anniversary episode. Zoe conspired with his estranged wife, Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), and their friend, Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf), to seek revenge on Den for the way he had victimised them. Their plan resulted in Zoe seemingly killing Den in the Queen Victoria public house after he attacked Chrissie; however, when Zoe left him behind, Den regained consciousness until Chrissie ultimately killed him for good, shortly before Zoe reappeared in the room where he was murdered. Soon afterwards, Zoe leaves Walford for Ibiza after making amends with Kat and Dennis. In her absence, her relative Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) gives her and Chrissie a false alibi to prevent Zoe's imprisonment; Chrissie later confesses to killing Den. In June 2025, Zoe reconnects with Stacey after fabricating a story that she is on the run from loan sharks.