Denise Fox (also Wicks and Johnson) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Diane Parish. She made her first appearance on 11 May 2006 and temporarily left EastEnders in early 2008 to give birth to her second child. Her leave-taking had coincided with the departure of Matt Di Angelo (Dean Wicks) and permanent departures of cast members Phil Daniels (Kevin Wicks), Kellie Shirley (Carly Wicks). She returned to Walford on 6 June 2008. This is Parish's second role in EastEnders, as she previously played singer Lola Christie in 1998. Introduced as a single mother to Chelsea Fox (Tiana Benjamin) and Libby Fox (Belinda Owusu), the latter of whom was conceived from a vituperative marriage, Denise has gone on to marry three additional times. Firstly, to Kevin in 2007, who dies months later, to Lucas Johnson (Don Gilet) in 2009, with them divorcing two years later after he is imprisoned for murdering their ex-spouses respectively, and then to Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) in 2021. She also embarks on a loveless engagement to Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), flings with younger men Fatboy (Ricky Norwood) and Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami) and a drunken one-night stand with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) which results in a late in life pregnancy. Denise's third child, a son, is born in 2017, but she gives him up for adoption, shortly before her mother tells her she is adopted herself (although this was later proved untrue). Other storylines involving Denise include surviving a bus crash, losing her job, descending into poverty and a relationship with policeman Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) that leads to them getting engaged and later entering a civil partnership.