Elaine Peacock’s (Harriet Thorpe) world is in turmoil in EastEnders next week, which results in her making a reckless move that could cost her and daughter Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) dearly.
Queen Vic co-owner Elaine left fans of the BBC soap stunned when she cheated on her husband George Knight (Colin Salmon) in shock scenes earlier this week.
Elaine fell into the arms of a man named Stephen as her jealousy of George’s connection to his ex-wife Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) reached boiling point after he helped her out with The Albert relaunch.
On Thursday, George was reeling after finding out about Elaine’s betrayal, and with the future of their marriage up in the air, Elaine starts behaving erratically next week.
Things start to get messy as she enjoys some drinks with Kim Fox (Tameka Empson), Mo Harris (Laila Morse), Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan-Levy), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) and Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter), and Elaine shocks Linda by declaring the prosecco is on the house all night.
When Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) pops in for a drink, he notices how much Linda is struggling having to do the lion’s share of the work at the Vic amid her mum’s turmoil and steps in to help behind the bar.
Later, a tipsy Elaine offers to book Priya a singles cruise, telling her that she can pay her back later. Linda is then horrified when she sees how her mum has taken £5k out of the business account to pay for it – but when she confronts Elaine, she shuts her down.
The following morning, Elaine is viciously hungover and refuses to engage with Linda, who is still reeling at her decision to book Priya on the cruise.
As his concerns for friend Linda grow, Phil decides to confront Elaine for treating her daughter so thoughtlessly, given that she is so freshly out of rehab for her alcohol addiction.
However, when Elaine tries to talk to Linda, she continues to downplay her true feelings of overwhelm.
Could Elaine’s behaviour cause an overwhelmed Linda to relapse? And does her decision to give Priya the money have anything to do with rumours that Elaine and Linda’s time as co-landladys of The Vic is coming to an end?
