EastEnders’ latest newcomer Lewis Bridgeman is actually a genius.
The youngster – who has suffered from anxiety over the years and was diagnosed with autism and dyspraxia – made his debut on the Square as Barney Mitchell in June this year – and his character has already gotten himself in a whole heap of trouble.
However, according to the actor’s mum, Lewis isn’t just known for his acting talents.
At the age of 12, he passed Mensa’s rigorous intelligence test, meaning that his IQ, or intelligence quotient, is among the top 2% of the world’s population.
Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society globally with the minimum accepted IQ for the group listed at 132.
Lewis’ mum Jayne told Maldon Standard: ‘His IQ is high but he struggles with social things like making friends. But the Plume have been brilliant – he’s come on so much.’
Barney Mitchell (Lewis Bridgeman) has been left fearing for his lie after an altercation with Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).
The episode kicked off with Nugget Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) wondering who sister Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) was texting.
As we know, her mystery fella is older bloke Mason (Alex Draper), whose identity is only known by Barney.
Last week we saw her mum Priya (Sophie Khan Levy) question her new relationship – and Avani managed to think up the perfect scapegoat – her best pal Barns.
With Mason pressuring her to take their relationship to the next level, it was only a matter of time before she had to confess to him that she wasn’t ready.
Adamant to get revenge, Ravi charged to find Barney, who he presumed was responsible.
The youngster clocked onto the case of mistaken identity and dashed off through the market, but as he found safety outside of Peggy’s, Ravi soon caught up.
Barney asserted that he didn’t feel threatened, but soon was dragged up on top of the viaduct above Turpin Road.
