Note: This article contains discussion of misogyny and child to parent abuse.
EastEnders spoilers follow.
EastEnders star Alex Walkinshaw has detailed the moment Ross Marshall discovers that Vicki Fowler is injured, with the actor describing it as a “nightmare” moment for the couple.
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The pair arrived in East London back in March with Ross’s son Joel, though their assimilation into Walford life has been far from smooth following Joel’s heinous attitudes towards women.
As Joel’s views have become more extreme, Thursday’s (9 October) episode saw the storyline take an even darker turn as the teenager injured his stepmother during a shocking attack.
Speaking after the horrifying scenes, Walkinshaw, who plays Ross, said: “Ross is not there when Vicki is attacked because he’s gone to clear his head after an argument with Joel where he grabbed hold of him.
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“Vicki told Ross to get out and cool off, which he does. But when he gets back to the house, Vicki’s not there but her phone is and things aren’t adding up. Then he gets the call to say she’s been taken to hospital.”
“He’s scared to pursue that train of thought [that Joel is the attacker],” he continued. “Ross doesn’t want to believe it because it’s so horrifying and he can’t contemplate it unless he knows for sure. He wants to speak to Vicki and find out what’s what.
“But he is absolutely heartbroken and totally sickened. The woman he loves is in hospital and the person he loves the most in the world could be responsible. It’s a nightmare scenario and will have a massive impact on all of them.”
While Ross is sickened by his son’s behaviour, the warning signs have been there for a few weeks as Joel’s views have become more extreme, and Walkinshaw admitted that his character has been “naïve” throughout the storyline.
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“Ross has been really naïve, but in the last few weeks, he’s finally started to realise the severity of the situation with Joel,” he said. “He was too slow to catch on but that’s because he’s been giving Joel the benefit of the doubt and taking him at his word.
“But now it’s reached a point where Ross is worried sick, and he doesn’t know what to do. I think, like a lot of people Ross’ age, this element of social media is something he doesn’t know much about.”
“He’s not aware that if you watch a stream or a video for a while, the algorithm will flood your feed with similar content, and it can have a massive impact,” continued the actor, who also starred in Holby City.
“For Joel, he’s been looking at so much of this content and [has] been so brainwashed by it that his world has become a lot smaller, and Ross has finally cottoned on but it’s too late.”
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While Ross will be grappling with his own guilt, Walkinshaw shared that his character will still attempt to get through to his son despite the latest incident, though he conceded that it could be too late.
“[Ross] refuses to give up on his child, which is the attitude I think that most parents would take,” he explained. “Ross has brought Joel up on his own and he’s been a mate and a dad to him, but I think sometimes he hasn’t got those roles in the right order.
“As a parent, you always remember your child at their cutest and sweetest when they were little. It’s a huge leap to go from that to thinking that there is something fundamentally wrong with [them]. Ross does get there, but he’s just too late, which is tragic.”
EastEnders airs on Mondays-Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.