EastEnders confirms return for TV legend as vile murderer stages comeback
EastEnders has featured some of the most hideous villains in all of Soapland, and one is on his way back.
Monstrous Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry), domestic abuser-turned-serial killer, Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith), the most fatal femme, Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) and rapist, Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo), among a litany of others, have enjoyed reigns of terror in Walford.
While Eddie Knight’s (Christopher Fairbank) tenure was much more brief than the aforementioned wrong’uns, he made an indelible impact on Albert Square with his utter evilness.
Eddie arrived on New Year’s Day, 2024, alongside wife Gloria (Elizabeth Counsell) as the adoptive dad of George Knight (Colin Salmon). George was soon heartbroken to learn that they had been previously paid to adopt him in a process known as ‘child farming’.
With the aid of ex-wife, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), George learned that he was, in fact, African, and not Jamaican as he’d previously believed and had been purchased from an African family. Though his mum and dad opened up about certain aspects of his past, it was incredibly clear that they were hiding much more.
The truth about Eddie
Eddie later reappeared in Walford, eager to tell his son about an award he had won for championing diversity in boxing, with George invited to a party that would celebrate his dad’s success.
He was further elated later, when Eddie made an emotive speech about his pride in his son, expressing to then-wife, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) that he’d finally realised that his dad truly loved him.
Later though, George learned that Eddie was merely priming him to stand as a witness for him after he’d been charged with a racially motivated murder, in which he and his racist friends beat George’s biological father to death, before stuffing his dismembered remains into a suitcase, with a dog walker later discovering them by a canal, an attack actually witnessed by a young George.
Though both Eddie and Gloria pleaded with George to stand up for his dad, daughter Gina Knight (Francesca Henry) pleaded with her dad to see the truth, having been victim of a number of microaggressions at the hands of her ‘grandfather’.
George did take the stand in court, testifying that his dad is, in fact, a violent, racist monster and, despite the pleadings of Gloria, ensured that he was sent down for his crime.
Eddie’s final act displayed his unwavering cruelty, when, from his prison cell, he banned George from attending Gloria’s funeral, after she perished from a heart attack.
Eddie’s return
A source told The Sun: ‘Christopher Fairbank is returning as part of a new storyline that will see George Knight at the heart of the drama. Whilst it’s only a short stint, his return kicks off a bigger storyline that will spark troubling times for George and the wider Knight family.’
An EastEnders spokeswoman later confirmed the return, adding: ‘We can confirm Christopher Fairbank will be returning to EastEnders for a short stint later this spring.’
It’s understood that Christopher has already begun filming, with his scenes set to air soon.
George’s recent plotlines have seen him on a mission to save his brother, Kojo Asare (Dayo Koleosho) from Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) and Tobias ‘Okie’ Okyere’s (Aayan Ibikunle Shoderu) drug dealing ring, within which he’d been ‘cuckoo’d’.
He later discovered that he was to become a father again with Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington).
Though frequently warned off the fearsome Mitchell matriarch, he revealed that he’d fallen in love with her, following the premature birth of their baby girl, Ivy.
