EastEnders is set to air more troubling times for Joel Marshall (Max Murray) after his dad Ross (Alex Walkinshaw) issued an update about his estranged mum.
Since arriving in Walford earlier this year, Joel has been displaying very worrying behaviour that has included encouraging his pal Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) to watch pornography. He also filmed himself having sex with fellow schoolgirl Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) and later showed the footage to Tommy in a bid to impress him.
The school boy is yet to discover that Avani is now pregnant with his baby. In another disgusting act, Joel sexually assaulted a woman on the London Underground, and it was his step mum, Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig), who paid the victim for her silence.
Joel has also confided in Tommy about his past, revealing his deep-seated resentment towards women after his own mother abandoned him when he was just a lad. He also had a few bad words to say about his mum, but didn’t confirm her name.
In next week’s episodes of the BBC One soap, Ross takes Joel and Tommy to work at the timber yard after advice from his partner Vicki.
But when Ross hears the language of the other workers, he’s concerned about their influence on the boys.
Ross is later shocked to get a call from Joel’s mum, and has to break the news to his son that she is getting remarried.
Joel slips out to hang out with Tommy at The Queen Vic, leading Tommy astray by stealing alcohol from the barrel store.
Ross, Vicki, Alfie (Shane Richie), and Kat (Jessie Wallace) confront the pair, but when Joel uses derogatory language towards Kat, the parents are shocked.
Ross and Vicki reprimand Joel for his actions as the concerned dad tries to communicate with his difficult son.
The pair later bond over a video that Ross perceives as innocent from Joel’s idol influencer, but when Ross discovers something worrying on his laptop, he destroys it.
In the aftermath, Ross is cold towards Joel and refuses to let him join him at work again.
Meanwhile, Vicki is shocked to find out why Ross broke the laptop, and orders him to be firm with Joel before his behaviour spirals any further.
Ross has a heart-to-heart with Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman), which gets him thinking, while Joel apologises to Kat, and she allows him to hang out with Tommy.
Vicki and Stacey bond over parenting and men in The Vic, but an annoyed Joel overhears them and shows his true colours.
The identity of Joel’s mother has remained a mystery; however, some EastEnders fans believe Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) to be the teenager’s mother.
The iconic character briefly returned in June and confirmed she had a secret that she didn’t want to be exposed. Zoe is set to return to Walford later this year.
EastEnders has yet to confirm who exactly Joel’s biological mother is, as she remains a mystery.
EastEnders airs Mon
