Nigel to the rescue as he fights for another EastEnders legend
EastEnders’ Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) jumped to Bianca Jackson’s (Patsy Palmer) defence after she was blamed for Martin Fowler’s (James Bye) death on Monday.
The beloved fruit and veg seller perished after he was crushed by a steel beam in the aftermath of the explosion that tore through the Queen Vic.
In the lead up to the blast, Bianca had a showdown with twisted killer Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman), who had been keeping her hostage after she’d found out he smothered comatose wife Debbie to death last year.
Bianca’s attempts to chase him led to a manic Reiss attempting to flee in his car. However, he lost control when a vengeful Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) pushed Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) in front of the car’s path, causing Reiss to crash into the Vic and inadvertently spark the devastating explosion.
With the Sqaure still in the dark about Cindy’s involvement in the tragic events, fingers were pointing in Bianca’s direction on Monday’s episode of the BBC soap.
In the café, the traders were all gossiping about her chasing after Reiss, before Mo Harris (Laila Morse) outright accused her of causing Martin’s demise.
Bianca rushed out and was later seen having another panic attack at home, haunted by visions of Reiss.
Meanwhile, Nigel stepped in to give Mo some food for thought.
‘I haven’t known you very long, but you strike me as a kind-hearted lady underneath all the sharp-tongued wise cracks,’ he said. ‘But you hurt Bianca today and she’s been hurt enough by all these troubles. So I think the right thing to do…
As Mo told Nigel to ‘keep his Alans on’, she promised to make things right.
Her granddaughter and Bianca’s best mate Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) later called over with a bag of goodies from Mo, and encouraged Bianca to open up about her trauma.
Bianca seemed to make some headway, but spoilers for this week have already revealed she will face more hurdles amid her battle with PTSD.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One or stream first from 6am on iPlayer.