This article contains spoilers for tonight’s episode of EastEnders, which airs tonight on BBC One but is available to view now on BBC iPlayer.
Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) has left Albert Square – sparking fury with youngster Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall).
Last week we saw Alfie lose his job at the bookmakers, leaving ex-wife Kat Mitchell (Jessie Wallace) concerned for the future of their combined family set-up.
As viewers know, she’s been lodging at No. 5D with her sons Tommy, Bert and Ernie since she separated from her husband Phil (Steve McFadden).
Luckily, the Panesar clan were looking for someone to take over as manager at the Minute Mart, and Alfie put in his application.
What he didn’t realise was that teenagers Avani (Aaliyah James) and Nugget (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) would be interviewing him, having recently learn they’d inherited the business from grandfather Nish (Navin Chowdhry).
Alfie was interviewed by Avani and Nugget (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
After accepting the role, he was told he’d be required to attend a two week course relating to the Minute Mart brand at their head office in Birmingham.
In tonight’s episode, Kat arrived home after managing to bring David Wicks (Michael French) back to the area to support his daughter Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer).
Tommy was awaiting his adoptive dad’s return so that he could go to the park to play football, and was less than impressed to hear that he’d already left.
He immediately tried to suggest that Kat had driven him away – in the same way she’d declined a reunion from Phil – and slung a throw cushion across the room towards his younger siblings.
After storming out, Kat looked horrified.
In July, executive producer Chris Clenshaw confirmed a horrifying child to parent abuse storyline for Kat and Tommy.
‘Kat is well-known in Albert Square for her no-nonsense attitude and fiery temper, but this storyline will explore how Tommy manipulates Kat’s unequivocal love for her son to exert his anger and elicit control’ he said at the time.
‘Jessie and Sonny’s performances have thoughtfully portrayed the complex realities of child to parent abuse with compassion and understanding.’
On a number of occasions we’ve seen him lash out towards his mother, and on one occasion he reported her to the police for pushing him down to defend herself.
After a tough talking-to from Alfie, it seemed that he had reformed his troubled ways, but that could all now change in his absence.
Is Kat at risk?
