STUART Highway is facing the music when it comes to his breast cancer.
However, he’s keeping another secret and it doesn’t take Dotty Cotton very long to figure it out next week in EastEnders.
Walford tough man Stuart (portrayed by Ricky Champ) took a long time before accepting help for his cancer.
But, soon enough, he was no longer able to keep everything at bay and has decided to get treatment for his illness.
Amid his cancer battle, he became a father after Bernie Taylor (Clair Norris) gave birth to a baby boy named Roland.
Bernie kept to her surrogacy agreement with Stuart and his wife Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks), but fatherhood doesn’t seem to be his calling.
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Coming up, Stuart has his first chemotherapy appointment and on his way home, he bumps into Dotty Cotton (played by Milly Zero).
The club manager immediately assumes Stuart must be high, due to his previous issues with addiction, and threatens to tell Bernie.
Feeling the pressure, Stuart can’t contain the truth any longer and comes clean – he doesn’t feel a connection with Roland.
As mentioned above, Bernie gave birth to Roland in March, 2022, when she returned to the Square after months of absence.
She agreed to let Stuart and Rainie keep her baby on the condition the former did whatever he could to take care of his health.
Signs have already shown Stuart is unable to connect with Roland as he has made excuses to avoid taking care of the baby.
This has prompted Mitch Baker (Roger Griffiths) to step up and help Rainie with Roland, which only made matters worse for Stuart.
Stuart was left broken upon seeing how much of a natural Mitch is with Roland.
His anxiety then increased when Rainie left him alone with their son.
The storyline is meant to shine a light on postnatal depression in new dads and encourages them to seek help for their mental health.
Will Stuart ever adapt to parenthood?
How will Rainie react once she finds out the truth?
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Can Bernie or Dotty help Stuart?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday on BBC One.
