(Monday 12^th October – Monday 2^nd November 2020)

The big shock these past few weeks was the discovery that Frankie’s Mum, Katie was a carer for the family and Mick was twelve when Frankie was conceived.  Of all the places I thought this story was going to go, this was not one of them.  I’m also not quite so excited about one of my favourite actresses, Simone Lahbib taking the role!  I mean, I am sure she will absolutely kill it.  She’s amazing.  But I wanted her to be fabulous.  Not a sex offender.  However, putting that aside, this story is going to be incredible in the kind of way only a soap can achieve.  I know it will.  I have been so ready to rant about Eastenders changing Mick and Linda’s past and there they go, throwing in the biggest curve ball ever.  I can’t even fathom how emotional this story will be.

For now, Mick has been failing to hide his pain and anxiety and instead, taking everything out on Linda and especially on his mother, Shirley, who left him in the situation to be abused in the first place.  And Frankie has vanished in a state of distress over the truth of her beginnings.

In response to her hurt, Shirley had the clever idea of stealing the swanky new car that a Covid-19 patient gifted Sonia.  However, her conscience got the better of her and she gave her the money for it.

In some good news, Whitney was found not guilty of murder!  Hooray!  Although, how Gray was allowed to act as her emergency barrister when at the beginning of the trial, he was physically removed from the court, I have no idea.  But anyway… success!  Traumatised by everything that has happened (you know, murdering his wife and all), Gray went home and decided that everything had to stop.  He tucked the kids into bed and set off the gas.  He was just about to flick on his lighter when Shirley barged in to tell him off for having a go at Linda earlier in the day.  Realising the depth of pain he was in, Shirley then took Gray under her wing.  She failed her son so she wanted to help Gray instead.  I have been enjoying their scenes, although I am desperate for someone to realise the truth about Chantelle’s death!  It’s not fair!

Martin and Ruby returned from a trip away to announce they were married.  Martin better watch himself – he’ll soon have been married as many times as Ian Beale.  There’s been Sonia, Stacey and now Ruby.  Eventually, he’ll ditch Ruby and remarry Stacey, of course, so that’s four at least…

And tensions are high.  Very high.  It’s fair to say that Stacey and Ruby hate each other.  I am Team Stacey, of course.  But it’s sad.  Only last year, Stacey was the best friend Ruby could ever have asked for.  She got her through the worst time in her life.  Now, Stacey believes that Ruby has stolen her husband (they were already split up, to be fair) and has robbed Ruby blind.  And while Stacey was at least being upfront about her hatred of Ruby, Ruby was being utterly vile behind her back.  She got Dotty to post a rat through their front door.  She had Stacey assaulted outside the club.  And finally, she teamed up with Suki to use Kush’s gambling addiction to lose them their house.

Thankfully, Stacey had already bonded with Kheerat (emotionally and physically) and he persuaded his mother to cancel the bet and in exchange for higher rent, the family were allowed to stay.  For now.  But it looks like it might be the end for Kat and Kush, as she felt she had been let down by too many men before and he had proved to be just the same.  I’m upset, to be honest.  I know the actor is leaving but did they have to completely ruin his character on the way out?

When Lola heard that Phil had been visiting Raymond at the hospital and befriended his grandmother, Ellie, she immediately broke Mitchell Rules and Ranks and did the right thing – she told Denise.  With Callum still working ‘undercover’ for the dodgy cop, he discovered that Ellie was not a nice lady at all and actually, the reason her family died was a revenge killing by her enemies.

Phil persuaded Denise to take Raymond back, offering his support but promising not to crowd her.  He then forced Ellie’s hand, with Callum’s help.  Unfortunately, taking Raymond back spelled the end of Denise and Jack, one of the Square’s dullest couples.  Jack insisted that Phil would never stay away from Raymond and he couldn’t have him involved in his children’s lives.  He has a point.  The first thing Phil did was attempt to pay Isaac to feed him information.  Isaac took the money and gave it to Denise, telling her everything.  It’s the first time I’ve liked him since he joined the show.

Bobby continued to struggle with OCD.  He has also been working very hard on the Lucy Beale Foundation and asked Max and Sharon to be the treasurers, hurting Ian’s feelings.  However, I’m sure he felt justified when the truth came tumbling out that Ian had fraudulently mortgaged the café behind Kathy’s back in order to pay back the money he had stolen from Max.  I mean, he’s not exactly an advert for strong financial decisions right now, is he?

Peter switched Kathy’s age down by twenty five years on a dating app, not telling her until the last minute.  The date went well until she fell over outside and her grandchildren accidentally outed her.  Her date, Iain was not very kind.

However, her date was nothing compared to the horror of what poor Honey went through with a guy called Paul.  He drugged her drink and when she was suitably incapacitated, he dragged her into an alley when he filmed her.  It’s not clear whether he actually assaulted her or was about to when Jay turned up, worried about a ‘drunken’ phone call she made to him.  He chased the guy off and rushed Honey to the hospital where she couldn’t remember anything and was heartbroken to discover what had happened.  She bravely pressed charges and Jay was absolutely amazing, supporting her through everything.  He also talked Billy down when he attempted to go after Paul.  Of course, Billy was haunted by memories of what had happened to his ex-wife, Little Mo.  I feel so sorry for Honey.  She was only just putting her life back together and now this has happened…

Eastenders airs on BBC1 on Mondays @ 8:05pm, Tuesdays & Thursdays @ 7:35pm & Fridays @ 8:30pm