(Mondays 30th & Tuesday 31st March 2020)
It’s the day of Denny’s funeral and Sharon (who has gone back to Watts, including in the credits) has banned all Mitchells from attending, although Jay Mitchell is still the funeral director. She holds Phil responsible for Denny’s death and Ben, Callum and Lola are excluded from the service.
Caught up with his own problems, namely Dotty pressuring him about The Arches, Ian is late but still manages to stand by his friend’s side and even takes over her eulogy when she can’t read for tears. The coffin is taken in a horse drawn hearse, although I’m not entirely sure where, as the service seems to take place in the middle of the Square. The eulogy also seems to describe another character entirely because the Denny we all watched on telly was a little horror! Kathy wears a delightful hat. It is quite distracting.
Mick and Linda have a successful meeting with Social Services before the funeral and Linda seems to be well on track with her recovery, which of course can only mean one thing. More warning signs flare when she mentions to Mick that some alcoholics can go back to just having one drink and that’s enough. No, Linda. Just no. Have you met Phil Mitchell? Do you know Lauren Branning?
Sharon is grateful to Ian for helping Karen out with money; Dotty continues to apply pressure. Linda does her best to look after Sharon during the wake. However, it all goes wrong when Linda hasn’t provided the right pizza and Sharon tears into her. It’s awful. It’s awful for Sharon, who is so broken by grief and it’s awful for Linda who has so desperately tried to make everything perfect for her friend. I’m not usually a Sharon fan, to be honest but Letitia Dean (who plays her) is really amazing in these episodes.
The Panesar Brothers are struggling in the wake of their mother’s lies. Vinny’s response is graffiti and ends up caught up for the day with Dotty, who is trying to distract herself from grieving for Denny, pretending she didn’t care about him.
Jags tries to explain that it’s not him that has a problem with Iqra and Ash, it’s his mother. He pretends to spot a rat in the house and fake captures it in order to impress her. Then he admits it but she forgives him and then end up in bed. Well, on the sofa. But she later feels duped by his Tu Pac quotations and throws him out – naked!
Callum does his best to look after Ben, who insists on going to the wake, having missed the service. Ben loses his temper with Callum when he tells Suki that he is deaf and she proceeds to patronise him. Jack remains concerned about Ben bringing Callum down. Ben finally tells Callum that he loves him.
At the wake, while Sharon tells Ian that Denny is dead because of Phil, the man himself is outside, laying a flower for the boy he considers to be his own son, the boy he adopted. He then arrives at the wake itself, only for Sharon to hurl abuse at him, accusing him of killing Denny (and Dennis before him). Nobody has any idea what to do (so nobody does a thing). Sharon leaves and Ian hurries after her, calling the police on Phil who don’t bother to show up until Phil is long gone. Shirley forces Mick to lie about having seen him.
Upstairs, Linda finds Shirley’s bottle of vodka, which she has clearly left there on purpose and sadly, she is unable to resist the temptation of disgusting, neat vodka. Then she realises that Shirley has marked the bottle so she hurriedly tries to top it up with water, only to get caught. Linda attempts to explain herself to disappointed Mick. They finally have an open conversation about her addiction and decide it’s time to sell up and move on from The Vic where their life won’t be surrounded by alcohol.
Meanwhile, Phil and Sharon have a much needed heart to heart about Denny. Sharon actually apologises for the breakdown of their relationship. And by the end of the episode, Phil is ready to hand himself into the police for causing the boat crash. Would you even believe it? He really must have loved that boy.
Out for the night, Dotty steals a guy’s wallet and gets chased down the street, ending up being rescued by Peter, who brings her home to sleep it off on the couch. Ian immediately takes advantage and steals her keys to The Arches. He just gets lower and lower, that man.
Due to the Coronavirus, Eastenders has had to suspend filming
It will air from now on only on Mondays (8pm) and Tuesdays (7:30pm) on BBC1
The Soap Dish 