AFTER tying the knot with Jay Brown in emotional scenes, Lola Pearce braces herself for another shock.
But a family member has also decided to pay her a visit. Get the lowdown on the EastEnders drama for this week.
Lola Pearce has to come clean
Her daughter Lexi still doesn’t know she’s terminally ill
Someone from Lola’s past arrives in Walford
1. Lola prepares her exit
As months have gone by since her initial diagnosis, Lola Pearce has been trying to adapt to her life with a terminal illness.
In recent scenes, and after some doubt, she finally tied the knot with her on-off partner Jay Brown, leaving fans in floods of tears.
This week on BBC One, the hairdresser portrayed by Danielle Harold realises her brain tumour is slowly but surely affecting her young daughter, Lexi.
To make matters worse, Lola still hasn’t managed to be honest with the little girl and never told her she would eventually die from her tumour.
Coming up, Lexi feigns illness to stay off school and when her father Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) takes her in, it becomes clear why.
The mechanic receives a call and learns that Lexi wants to be with her mother at all times until she’s better.
Lola realises that she has no choice and needs to tell Lexi her condition is terminal.
The news hits the 10-year-old like a ton of bricks but she demands to go back to school, furious that Lola lied to her.
Meanwhile, after the upset of discussing her death with her daughter, Lola is approached by her husband Jay who tries to lift her spirits by talking about their honeymoon.
The pair plan to leave Walford to enjoy some time away together.
But could their plans be thwarted by a surprise arrival?
Patsy Kensit is the newest addition to the EastEnders line-up
2. Emma rocks up the Square
After school, Lexi is approached by an unknown woman in the playground who gives her some comforting words.
Although the girl is oblivious, viewers will know the woman is none other than Emma Harding, Lola’s estranged mother.
Leaving her oblivious granddaughter, Emma heads over to Fox & Hair, where Lola is due to get back to work despite her illness.
Emma books an appointment for the following day and asks for her daughter specifically.
Lola gets back to work in later scenes and welcomes new client Emma to her chair, unable to recognise her mother.
Emma keeps the mystery going and doesn’t let on their true connection.
When it’s clear Lola feels unwell, Denise Fox (Diane Parish) jumps in and explains she has health issues.
Curious, Emma watches Lola’s latest vlog and gets a massive shock.
She then returns to Fox & Hair on the pretence of needing a nail appointment and quizzes Lola.
The pair discuss Lola’s vlog and she lets slip that a girl at school has been nasty to Lexi about her videos.
What will Emma do?
Will she ever tell Lola she’s her mother?
How will Lily Slater cope with her pregnancy without her father?
3. Martin leaves Walford
While some parents try to tie up any loose ends in the best way they can, others have no choice but to leave their offspring behind in Albert Square.
Such is the case of Martin Fowler (James Bye).
Due to her young age, social services and the police became involved and opened an investigation to prove Lily wasn’t being abused at home.
Sadly for Lily, she may have to go through it all without her father figure as Martin is offered a few weeks’ well-paid work in Turkey.
Lily’s pregnancy makes his choice tougher to make as he worries about being far away from her at such a tricky time.
Will he pluck up the courage to tell Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner)?
Jack is out of control this week
4. Jack spirals
Martin’s help may be welcome, particularly as tensions arise and escalate at a rapid rate next week.
Although she was initially ready to get an abortion, Lily decides to keep her baby and she’s even taken the responsibility to tell Ricky Jr. he was the father.
All hell breaks loose when Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) finds out that his son is just as adamant on raising the child and has offered to support Lily.
The copper is furious and, while his wife Denise pleads caution, he demands a meeting with Stacey and Martin.
Jack insists they should talk some sense into Lily but Stacey is adamant on respecting her daughter’s choices and retaliates by affirming abortion is off the table.
This prompts Jack to resort to underhanded tactics as he latter bumps into Lily’s in McKlunky’s.
When he runs into her, Jack tells her what her life will be like as a teen mother, in the hopes he could trigger doubts in Lily and, eventually, lead her to get rid of her baby.
Sadly, Jack’s actions have a whirlwind of consequences, particularly for his son.
Stacey gets wind of this and storms over to No.27, banning the whole Branning clan from having anything to do with the baby.
Ricky Jr. is crushed and calls his mother Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf), just as Denise squares up to Jack, telling him he’s out of order.
Ricky Jr. makes a shock decision and leaves the house to move in with Sam, while Jack is devastated.
Later on, Denise is at her wit’s end and, sensing her exhaustion, Patrick Trueman recommends she finds someone to talk some sense into Jack.
She thus joins forces with Stacey and the pair try to get Martin to talk to Jack about coming to terms with Lily keeping the baby.
Will it work?
Could Ravi be a sweet escape for Denise?
5. Denise flirts with another man
Speaking of Denise (Diane Parish), Lily’s pregnancy and Jack’s behaviour are two sources of drama she’s unable to handle.
And with hunky gangster Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) cranking up the charming attitude a notch, her marriage with Jack could encounter more issues.
Denise heads out to blow off some steam and finds herself in the company of Ravi who offers her a shoulder to cry on.
When she returns home, Denise is awash with guilt to find a tearful Amy and realises she should have stayed home to help her.
After a failed attempt at a date day with Jack and some harsh comments from Sam Mitchell, Denise is officially fed up.
In an attempt to clear her head, she decides to head out with her sister Kim Fox for a night of clubbing and they soon hit up Walford East… much to Ravi’s delight.
How will Kim and Denise’s night end?
Sam finds out who could have given her an STI
6. Sam makes a shock discovery
Elsewhere in the Square, Sam was ready to give up her life in Walford to head to Germany with Ricky Butcher.
But upon finding out her son, Ricky Jr., was responsible for Lily Slater’s shocking pregnancy, she stayed behind.
The blonde bombshell got another shock when she received a message from the sexual health clinic, warning her she may have a sexually transmitted disease.
As the message was anonymous, Sam was left scratching her head, wondering who it could have come from.
Coming up, Sam is approached by an apprehensive Zack Hudson (James Farrar) at local wine bar Peggy’s.
The hunk is worried as to why Sam stayed in Albert Square and panics about the cause of her stress, assuming she may be facing a health scare because of him.
He tries to probe her further but ends up saying too much and Sam gets increasingly suspicious.
It doesn’t take her long to put two and two together and realise the text from the GUM clinic was about Zack.
He realises he has no other choice but to come clean and reveals he’s HIV positive.
Sam takes it upon herself to help him and later finds him to talk about his diagnosis.
The chef admits to feeling deep shame and is terrified of the sigma surrounding the virus.
Things take a turn and Sam is furious when she finds out he hasn’t picked up his meds.
She immediately urges him to tell Whitney Dean the truth.
Speaking of which…
Whitney’s baby is in danger
7. Whitney gets a chilling warning
The market trader played by Shona McGarty found out she was pregnant after taking a pregnancy test with Stacey Slater.
But there’s turmoil ahead for the mother-to-be as soap bosses have confirmed a devastating new storyline.
This week, Whitney’s good friend Felix Baker (portrayed by Matthew James Morrison) pitches a money-spinning idea for a drag queen night to Prince Albert owner Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth).
Felix even throws Whitney a bone by suggesting the queens should be styled by her stall, which is bound to help her financially.
All seemingly goes well until Whitney panics when she experiences spotting .
Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) offers to go with her to the hospital to get checked out.
Once there, Dr Lane tells Whitney her ultrasound has flagged up a situation with the baby.
How will she react?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday on BBC One.
