Martin Fowler (James Bye) is on cloud nine in EastEnders after landing his market stall job back.
In recent months, the residents of Walford have worked tirelessly to save the their beloved Bridge Street Market and Square gardens, which could were at threat of redevelopment.
Poor Martin, Winston (Ulric Browne) and Shrimpy (Ben Champniss) were facing the prospect of being unemployed and losing their livelihoods.
This was particularly devastating for Martin, who’s uncle Pete Beale (Peter Dean) was previously at the helm of the famed market stall, with the Beale and Fowler families running it for decades.
In a strike of good luck, the council went back on their plans – but soon turned their attention to the Turpin Road stalls, which includes Stacey Slater’s (Lacey Turner) bap van.
Realising that not even their saucy charity calendar could save them from mass job losses, the traders turned nasty at a public consultation meeting.
Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton) – in defence of Martin – tore strips off the councillor responsible for approving the changes.
Misogynistic Barker wasn’t backing down, and she was forced to take desperate measures to defeat him. Setting up a fake social media profile, she began to catfish him under the guise of being a supporter.
After obtaining nude photographs, she then attempted to blackmail him. Martin was furious with Ruby’s decision, and forced her to apologise.
The councillor took great glory in hearing her say she was wrong, and agreed to stop the plans. However, in a final act of revenge, he planted rat droppings underneath Martin’s fruit and veg stall.
In last night’s episode, after realising that Martin had disappeared, Stacey tried to track him down.
She rushed into The Prince Albert where the locals were celebrating their win.
Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) was infuriated to hear what the councillor had done, and told Stacey that it was time to play dirty.
After all, she was a Mitchell – and Stacey had been in prison. Stace wasn’t convinced.
When Councillor Barker arrived, Honey told him that her relative was notorious hard man Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and that he needed to watch his back.
The councillor laughed her off, citing that she was married into the family and that her partner Billy (Perry Fenwick) just sold odds and ends on the market.
In a last attempt to help Martin – who she has been harbouring feelings for – she made an impassioned plea for forgiveness. To her surprise, he agreed.
Martin arrived back from spending the last of his cash on Stratford arcades and couldn’t believe what he was hearing.As they left the bar, a drunken Stacey admitted that he was one of her favourite people.
He kissed her on the cheek, unaware that Ruby was watching in the distance.
Is this the end for Martin and Ruby?
