Lucy Benjamin

Lucy Benjamin
Lucy Benjamin at the British Academy Television Awards 2009
Born	Lucy Jane Baker (1970-06-25) 25 June 1970 (age 46) Reading, Berkshire, England
Residence	Gidea Park, Greater London
Other names	Lucy Taggart
Occupation	Actress
Spouse(s)	Richard Taggart
Children	2

Lucy Benjamin (born Lucy Jane Baker; 25 June 1970) is an English actress.

Born in Reading, Berkshire, England, she took the stage name of Benjamin after her brother. Benjamin trained at the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead. Her first acting role was as a child actress in Doctor Who in 1983, playing a younger version of the character Nyssa in "Mawdryn Undead". She remained uncredited both on-screen and in Radio Times for this part, despite having dialogue — albeit one word: "Doctor!"

In 1989, she starred in the hit children's television programme Press Gang, where she played Julie Craig. She left after the first series for another role, but returned for the fourth and final series until 1993, when her role was expanded somewhat.

In 1989 and 1990, Benjamin appeared in two series of LWT sitcom Close to Home, playing Paul Nicholas' teenaged daughter Kate Shepherd. Also in 1990, Benjamin appeared in the BSB Galaxy Channel soap opera Jupiter Moon. In 1995, she appeared in the Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall comedy Bottom. However, she is best known for her role as Lisa Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders which she played from 1998 to 2003, and was involved in several groundbreaking stories during her time there.

During her time on EastEnders, Benjamin was involved in one of the soap's most renowned and highly anticipated storylines, known as "Who Shot Phil?" (2001). The storyline centred on the shooting of her on-screen lover Phil Mitchell, and who, out of the many potential candidates, actually performed the dastardly deed. Several suspects emerged and the audience was kept in the dark for many weeks as to the identity of the shooter. Benjamin's character was eventually unveiled as the shooter.