EastEnders Lily Slater actors now from newborn stars to Soap Award winner
Since first being introduced to EastEnders fans all the way back in 2009, Lily Slater has fast become a fan favourite as viewers at home have watched the youngster grow up before their very eyes.
Most recently, the twelve year old daughter of Stacey Slater has shocked fans with a teenage pregnancy storyline, with the initial mystery surrounding the baby’s father – and her decision to keep the baby – keeping viewers on the very edge of their seats.
But while fans at home have been quick to praise junior star Lillia Turner who is currently at the helm of the role, the talented youngster is just one of 5 stars in total to have played the character so far.
This means that Lily Slater could potentially beat Ben Mitchell, Bobby and Peter Beale’s impressive list of cast changes over the years if another star takes over from Lillia in the future.
So far, Ben has been portrayed by six different actors over 27 years, whilst Bobby Beale has been portrayed by five over 20 years – but the current record holder is of course Peter Beale, who has had 7 different actors during his 30 year portrayal on the show.
So who first played Lily Slater?
When Lily first made her debut on the soap, it was back in 2009, after Stacey fell pregnant after she stopped taking her bipolar medication.
Struggling through a traumatic pregnancy and birth, Lily was finally born and made her onscreen debut with the help of three talented babies Alfie Duncan, Poppy Crake and Kennady Lacy-Breckenridge.
Appearing sporadically on screen, the youngsters were only in the soap for a short time – in what is believed to have been their only acting role to date.
Aine Garvey
Five years after her debut, Lily was recast, this time being played by youngster Aine Garvey as the character began to get involved in more detailed and intense plots.
During this period Lily suffered a number of hardships, including when her mother went to prison for killing Archie Mitchell after he raped her.
In the same stretch of time, Stacey also began to suffer with her mental health, ultimately leading to the character being sectioned in 2016 after suffering a manic episode.
As well as starring in EastEnders, Aine also stared in the series Utopia, and Ginger and Rosa, however since leaving the soap in 2019 she has not acting since.
Lillia Turner
By 2020, Lily was recast once again, as the character returned to the spotlight with a wealth of teenage troubles.
This time, Lily was portrayed by Lillia Turner, and in line with the character’s own maturity, began to tackle some more hard hitting storylines, including when she became more aware of her mother’s bipolar disorder and started self-medicating out of fear she may suffer from the condition too.
However, in 2023 the character truly came into her own, when Lillia was tasked with embarking on a brand new teenage pregnancy storyline which included revealing that Ricky Jr was the father of her unborn child.
Due to her young age however, social services were forced to get involved in the situation, with many investigating whether or not the truth about the baby’s parentage really was as Lily had described.
Deciding against an abortion, Lily vowed to keep the baby with the support of her mum, however things have been complicated even further after dodgy teacher Theo began taking a vested interest in both Stacey and her daughter.
Since appearing on EastEnders, Lilia has captured the hearts of fans everywhere, with viewers at home so impressed by her on screen performance that she was awarded the Best Young Performer of the year award at this year’s British Soap Awards.
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