Peter Beale (Thomas Law) has stumbled into something incredibly awkward in EastEnders.
It comes amid wife Lauren’s (Jacqueline Jossa) dodgy scheme with Mark Fowler (Stephen Aaron-Sipple), which has led to some romantic tension and an illicit kiss.
Their operation involves fixing up stolen cars and then flogging them. It sounded promising to Lauren, though she couldn’t help but feel that she was tempting fate, just days after a man violently attacked her and stole the car keys to a vintage vehicle. It seriously knocked her confidence, and she had no idea that Mark was the one who orchestrated the incident.
He needed the cash to pay off some gangsters who wanted his blood, and went on to torch a number of other cars with his aunty Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf).
This has all since come to light, and it’s safe to say that Lauren isn’t happy.
She warned Mark to stay away from her, wanting to keep their agreement and relationship purely platonic. But, as scenes in today’s episode have shown, he’s keen to continue stoking the fire.
Stephen Aaron-Sipple as Mark Fowler and Jacqueline Jossa as Lauren Beale. BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron
He introduced Lauren to a colleague of her uncle Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), who was interested in purchasing a new car. Mark showed her a motor on the car lot forecourt – which was one of the ones he’d stolen and was attempting to shift.
Lauren was determined to divert the copper, Rita (Amy Matthews) away from the vehicle, and was clearly jealous of the fact she’d spent the previous night with Mark.
Peter watched the pair bickering from across the square, and noticed a flirty interaction. He later found a series of suspicious texts on his wife’s phone, and tracked her down to The Boxing Den – when she should’ve been at work.
Stumbling in on her conversation with Mark, the trio stared at one another in shock.
How will Lauren and Mark explain themselves?
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Walford, Barney Mitchell (Lewis Bridgeman) crumbled under the pressure of keeping the circumstances of Joel Marshall’s (Max Murray) attack under his hat.
The teen explained to dad Zack Hudson (James Farrar) that he’d found a hammer that had likely been used to assault Joel, and that he’d also seen Davinder “Nugget” Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) burying something at the allotments.
Alex Walkinshaw as Ross Marshall, Alice Haig as Vicki Fowler, Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie as Kat and Alfie Moon. BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron
The two went down and uncovered a bag of marijuana, and Zack promised to speak to Nugget’s parents about the discovery.
However, over at The Vic, a far bigger revelation was coming to light. Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) slipped up in front of Ross Marshall (Alex Walkinshaw) and Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig), and was forced to show them the video of the teens tying Joel to a fence and soaking him in beer.
Ross was determined to go to the police with the footage. What repercussions will this have on the community?
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