EastEnders newbie Laura Doddington has revealed the two locals that Nicola Mitchell will target on her arrival this week.
The much-anticipated character steps into Walford just as her son Harry (Elijah Holloway) is arrested for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Shireen.
As we know, Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) has been digging for information after hearing the Mitchell extension moved to Albert Square from Dartford following the disappearance of Shireen, who had been involved in a huge argument with Harry shortly before.
With their ex-neighbours believing he was responsible, they decided to make the move.
Jack’s ulterior motive for the investigating is that Harry is blackmailing him, with footage of an earlier altercation they’d had.
When Penny Branning (Kitty Castledine) – who has been sleeping with Harry – found out, she confronted him over the matter but he was able to squirm his way out.
In upcoming scenes, the pressure begins to mount and Harry warns her that if her dad doesn’t lay off him, he’ll expose her part in the blackmail scheme.
Penny meets up with Shireen’s best pal Felicity, and her account of the story is chilling. It’s enough that, later, the police turn up to whisk Harry down to the station.
‘Nicola has been away in Bali, and she’s got back and had a tip-off that Harry is going to be arrested’ Laura explained.
‘She comes to Walford to help deal with that – in her unique, bombastic, Nicola Mitchell way!’
Before long, she ruffles feathers with ex-hubby Teddy (Roland Manookian), who is spooked to see her.
Laura added: ‘She wants her family back as a unit. She wants to show her children that she is supportive and loves them very much’
‘And her way of doing that is to come in and fix things. She’s a fixer!’
After hearing that Penny was involved with her son’s arrest, she instantly seeks her out and demands answers – a moment which Laura describes as like ‘a cat with a mouse.’
‘Nicola is so protective of her children and she’s not trusting the way Penny is with Harry.
‘Nicola doesn’t trust Penny at all – her dad’s in the police force! So, Nicola’s very watchful of Penny’s every move, and I think her way of dealing with people like that is to intimidate them.
‘She plays with Penny a bit, and then when she spots her weakness, she exposes it.’
We also know that Nicola is desperate to reunite with Teddy, and doesn’t take too kindly to Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) when she finds out that they’ve been flirting.
‘But they were definitely not what we would call a functioning couple. Nicola is quite manipulative with most people, but she can’t manipulate Teddy as well as she used to, and that infuriates her.’
She continued: ‘Letitia Dean is heaven to work with, and our first scene contains a line that’s my favourite I’ve ever said on screen!’
‘Nicola is not a woman’s woman, and she’s just not interested in women, not interested in female friendships, not interested in that support network.
‘At that initial moment, it could be Sharon or any other woman that she’s being rude to. But once she finds out that Sharon and Teddy have a flirtation, she sees Sharon as an obstacle to overcome and starts thinking how to scupper things between them.’
She certainly sounds like a force to be reckoned with, with Laura warning that Sharon should ‘watch her back’!
