EastEnders revisits the unusual circumstances surrounding Harry Mitchell’s (Elijah Holloway) ex-girlfriend Shireen’s disappearance next week.
Before long, the finger is pointed towards a member of his family – and they’re blamed for her ‘death’.
As viewers of the BBC soap will remember, last year Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) did some digging into why the new Mitchell family extension moved to the area from Dartford, and made a troubling discovery.
He learnt that once happy couple Harry and Shireen had a massive argument in front of several witnesses shortly before she vanished, and he was the last person to see her alive.
As a result, his daughter Penny (Kitty Castledine) met up with Shireen’s best mate Felicity in The Queen Vic, whose account of the story only made her more suspicious.
When the police arrived to arrest Harry, his mum Nicola (Laura Doddington) arrived on the scene and protested her son’s innocence.
She’s then found herself at the centre of a number of scandals – most recently admitting that her youngest son Barney (Lewis Bridgeman) was fathered by Walford local Zack Hudson (James Farrar), and threatening to expose Sharon Watts’ (Letitia Dean) affair with Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp).
‘She will go to any lengths to protect her boys, but equally in protecting them she is also protecting herself’ Laura told us.
‘In Nicola’s head, she will do anything to make sure that her boys aren’t hurt.’
In upcoming scenes, Harry is a ball of nerves as the four year anniversary of Shireen’s disappearance approaches. He’s further rattled when the girl’s brother, Asad, arrives at the garage and confronts him.
Harry is surprised to learn that he no longer blames him for what happened.
Nicola, wanting to be supportive, decides to host a vigil at her bar but the family are stunned when Asad returns and blames Teddy (Roland Manookian) for Shireen’s murder!
He is adamant that he had no involvement, with Harry stepping in to protect his dad. However, when the lads return home, he begs Teddy for the truth.
‘I think to begin with she is hoping that she’ll be able to sweep it under the carpet and it won’t be that big of a deal compared to previous years’ Laura explained.
‘But after that, it’s about her nurturing her son Harry, who is broken, and just trying to be there as much as she can for him.
‘She adores Harry so it breaks her heart to see him so upset.’
Little do they realise, Nicola is meeting up with a mysterious acquaintance named Benji, and asks him where Shireen is.
As the week goes on, tensions continue to rise as Nicola is caught by Teddy discussing her drug dealing with Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), with the two attempting to shutdown a dangerous supply that has been doing the rounds.
Harry, meanwhile, has taken some of the pills and picks a fight with Felix Baker (Matthew Morrison) whilst heavily under the influence.
If that’s not enough, Teddy keeps a huge secret from his ex-wife when he agrees to a business deal with Junior Knight (Micah Balfour).
What is his motive, and was he actually responsible for Shireen’s vanishing?
