EastEnders resolves Lauren’s latest feud amid advice from unlikely ally

EastEnders‘ Lauren Branning reconsidered her feud with father Max and his new lover Cindy Beale after a word of advice from an unexpected ally. Since catching Max and Cindy in the throes of passion after their first date, Lauren has been visibly irritated.

In tonight’s scenes, Lauren walked in on her dad and Cindy once again. Storming out, she suggested the two put some clothes on before they turned her house into an “OAP hook-up club”, leaving both Max and Cindy in shock.

Later on, Oscar tried to talk Lauren into giving Max a chance, particularly after he saved baby Jimmy’s life in the car crash. Lauren was having none of it, however, and immediately quizzed her brother as to why he’d defend Max over her.

Backed into a corner, Oscar admitted that Max had asked him to put in a good word with Lauren in exchange for some money, and this infuriated her further. She headed to the café to calm down, but was soon joined by Mark Fowler.

Despite her insistence that she wasn’t up for small talk, Lauren soon started venting about Max and his new romance with Cindy, which is especially difficult for her given that Cindy is her mother-in-law.

Mark shared insights from his fraught relationship with his own father, Grant Mitchell, and reminded Lauren that having a loving parent who tries their best wasn’t to be taken for granted.

Mulling over Mark’s words, Lauren softened and invited Max and Cindy to take their “skanky” snogging inside before the neighbours could see them. Max questioned the “change of heart” from Lauren, but was glad she supported him.

When Max went inside, Lauren noticed Mark across the street and the two of them smiled at each other. With her latest feud seemingly settled, could it be a while before Lauren is back in the thick of the drama?

Mark and Lauren have been getting close recently, with clues from the New Year’s Day flashforward episode pointing to a possible affair between the pair.

In the future scenes, Lauren, who’s currently married to Peter, appears to be hiding something as she texts and agrees to meet a mystery person, but could it be Mark?

EastEnders’ Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) gets help from some surprising sources as she steps up her battle with her dad Max Branning (Jake Wood) for control of the car lot next week.

Lauren recently bagged her father’s investment to buy the local Walford business from former owner Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), but quickly realised they had very different ideas about how their new partnership would run.

While Lauren assumed Max would be a silent partner, Max saw himself as very much in charge of the operation, having previously owned the car lot.

As a result, Lauren has been on a mission to prove to her dad she is capable of running the show, although she did recently make the mistake of selling a stolen motor supplied to her from hunky gangster Mark Fowler Jr (Stephen Aaron-Sipple). Not ideal.

Max then upped the ante by making her a huge offer – if she manages to sell £80,000 worth of cars within a month, he’ll give her half of the business.

Forthcoming scenes will see Lauren intensify her efforts to win the bet, and pub landlord Alfie Moon offers her a leg up when he points her in the direction of a supplier he knows offering cheap vintage cars that she can restore and sell on for profit.

Lauren then strikes a deal with Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) to carry out the repairs, but things take a turn when Mark steps in and asks his uncle Phil if he can take on the work on his behalf.

Now, Mark’s relationship with Lauren is somewhat complicated by the fact that she found out he was behind a recent carjacking that she was caught up in, later warning him to stay away from her and the business.

However, when the car arrives from the supplier and isn’t what she was expecting, Mark is there to save the day.

While he concludes there is no chance of making a profit, he promises to help Lauren recoup her money.

As the characters are once again thrown back into each other’s orbit, it will do nothing to stop speculation that the pair are about to embark on a steamy affair.

Back in the New Year’s Day flashforward episode, it was heavily hinted that Lauren had been cheating on husband Peter Beale (Thomas Law) before she was  later seen sharing scenes with Mark, who was unknown to the audience at the time of the flashforward ep airing.