It’s been a disastrous start to the week for EastEnders’ Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) and Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan).
With the possibility that Ian may spend a number of years behind bars for accidentally knocking over Jordan Fox (Jahsaiah Williams) with his car, he was hopeful that top lawyer Mr Get-out (Adam Leese) would be able to provide some good news ahead of the plea hearing.
Get-out ushered Ian, his son Peter (Thomas Law) and Lauren Beale (Jacqueline Jossa) inside, as there was something that needed addressing.
He revealed that there wasn’t going to be need for a trial, and that the judge could easily decide a verdict without. Ian saw this as a positive sign, but it actually meant that he was still looking at a two year stretch at His Majesty’s pleasure.
The only way he could get a reduced sentence would be if he pleaded guilty, and even then, it might be that he ends up behind bars. In the best case scenario, he could receive a suspended sentence.
Peter and Lauren were insistent that he listen to Get-out’s advice, though Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) disagreed. She knew that he son hadn’t purposely committed the crime, and wanted him to plead not guilty.
Across the Square, the Fox-Trueman-Branning clan were welcoming matriarch Denise Fox (Diane Parish) home. She’d just received some terrible news about her acute myeloid leukaemia diagnosis – the treatment hadn’t worked – and after her chemotherapy break, she’d have to go back to hospital.
After some advice from Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe), Ian raced over to wish Denise well, but also took opportunity to ask Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams) whether she would tell the authorities that the reason Jordan was knocked over was because she’d took her eye off him.
Denise lashed out, warning him to stay away from her family as he’d already caused enough hurt.
At the conclusion of the episode, Ian tearfully told Peter and Kathy that he’d reached a point of no return and that he would be pleading guilty.
However, the drama didn’t stop there. Earlier in the instalment, Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) had clocked Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) on Bridge Street.
There’s still a lot of bad blood between them, and Sharon wanted to try and set the record straight on where she stood.
As viewers will recall, when Zoe was looking for her estranged son Josh Goodwin (Joshua Vaughan) last year, she became desperate for cash to pay for a private investigator. Knowing that Sharon would invest if she had a personal connection to Josh, she lied and said that his father was Sharon’s late husband Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman).
Of course, the real baby daddy was actually Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey).
When Sharon discovered the truth she was furious, and shortly afterwards, decided to leave the country.
Upon her entrance to The Vic today, she spotted Josh and twin sister Jasmine (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) sat at the bar and made polite conversation. Zoe strolled over and tried to explain herself, but Sharon wasn’t in the mood for making amends and slung a glass of wine at her.
The twins leapt to their mum’s defence and ordered Sharon out. But Zoe knew she was in the wrong.
Later that day she attempted to an extend an olive branch, though Sharon clearly wasn’t in a forgiving mood. She insisted that, despite all of the time it took for her to be reunited with Josh and Jasmine, it wouldn’t be long before they were separated again.
Could this be foreshadowing Zoe’s death, which was reported this weekend?
Read more:
- EastEnders confirms Zoe Slater exit as legendary character tipped to be killed off
- EastEnders confirms Hollyoaks favourite cast as new detective for major Branning storyline
- EastEnders legend teases “dangerous” dynamic between Max Branning and Cindy Beale
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