LOLA Pearce drew her last breath, leaving her daughter Lexi to be taken care of by her father Ben Mitchell.
But the EastEnders mechanic played by Max Bowden struggles to step up as his eating disorder spirals out of control.
Can Ben Mitchell get his act together?
The troublemaker has been struggling with an eating disorder
And it’s made him unavailable to his own daughter Lexi
Lexi Pearce (played by Isabella Brown) is struggling to cope after her mother’s heart-breaking death which was aired earlier this month on BBC One.
Members of her family are doing everything they can to support her and help her process Lola’s demise – but her father Ben is unable to give her what she needs as he fights his own private battles.
Coming up next week, over at No.18, Ben and Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) try to tempt withdrawn Lexi out for lunch.
When Lexi tells them she wants to speak at Lola’s funeral, Ben forbids it, fearing it’ll be too much for her.
Lexi is furious, and Ben breaks down in the face of her anger until Jay steps in to make peace.
They agree to talk it over at lunch, and Ben reveals that he’s decorated Lexi’s bedroom, so it’s now ready for her to move in.
In later scenes at Walford East, Ben is struggling with his bulimia when Jay has to take a call and heads out.
With the toilets closed, he starts panicking and leaves Lexi alone in Walford East.
Lexi is devastated by the sight of a mother and daughter together and runs out into the Square.
Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) is horrified to see her and realises Ben left her by herself.
The market trader is fuming and decides to lay the law down to Ben – he has to step up and be the father that Lexi deserves.
Shaken up by the incident, later on, Ben backtracks on having Lexi live with him, fully convinced he would be a bad father.
How will Lexi react?
Can Jay give Ben a few words of advice?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
Billy finds Lexi all alone in the Square
He gives Ben a piece of his mind
