Families on the brink of collapse, mended hearts set to break again, long-lost relatives, sinister schemes and an unsettling undercurrent of organised crime? Yup, it’s another week of EastEnders spoilers.

It’s a week of prime Maxxing for Max Branning (Jake Wood), as he finds himself in, out and in again with both daughter Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) and baby mama/potential love interest/who knows what Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).

As things seem to finally come together, can Max manage to not destroy all of the progress he’s made?

Meanwhile, the emergence of Josh Goodwin (Joshua Vaughan) and Sandra Goodwin (Dawn Steele) sends the Trueman family into a spin.

Can Kim and Denise Fox (Tameka Empson and Diane Parish) bring Josh and grandad Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) together?

Elsewhere, Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) is creeped out by an increasingly sinister Bea Pollard (Ronni Ancona), Suki Panesar-Unwin (Balvinder Sopal) reacts horrifically to Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota) and Penny Branning’s (Kitty Castledine) baby news, while Mark Fowler Jr’s (Stephen Aaron-Sipple) criminal operations infiltrate the Square.

Consider the tea spilled…

Monday, March 16

Albert Square celebrates an Mother’s Day, in a fashion. When Lauren invites Max to lunch with the Beale/Branning faction, tensions bubble, and he finds himself squarely at odds with his family.

Later, Lauren makes a deal with Mark to sell high-end cars, supplied by him, completely unaware of his dodgy intentions.

Linda’s Mother’s Day goes from bad to worse after Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff) maintains his distance from her, and Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) and Bea clash over money in the Vic.

As Linda ends up in a bitter clash with an irked Max, Bea heads home and fraudulently applies for a credit card in Honey Mitchell’s (Emma Barton) name.

Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) arrives back in Walford, but it’s clear there is still friction between her and Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) over Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness).

Jean overhears Zoe on an emotional call with Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace), and after some encouragement from Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), decides to offer an olive branch to Zoe and the pair finally put aside their differences.

Tuesday, March 17

Denise and Kim join forces to confront a newcomer named Sandra, who’s snooping for information about Jasmine, but are floored to realise that she’s the adoptive mum of Jasmine’s twin, Josh. They’re even further gagged to find out that Josh is on Albert Square, looking for his mum.

Lauren is chuffed to shift one of Mark’s luxury cars, but Max is perturbed by the provided paperwork.

Lauren is shaken to discover the car involved in her mugging has been located, and the scales fall from her eyes as he continues to tell her that expensive cars in the local area have started being stolen. Rattled, she heads off to confront Mark.

Meanwhile, Billy, Will (Freddie Phillips) and Janet Mitchell (Grace) arrive home to find Bea has annihilated their food supply. Embarrassed, Bea lands a job at McClunky’s before her fraudulent credit card arrives.

While Vinny struggles to tell his mum, Suki, about Penny’s pregnancy, but is beaten to the punch by Jack Branning (Scott Maslen).

Wednesday, March 18

When Denise drops that Zoe is close by, Josh flees the Square, unwilling to have anything to do with his birth mum, forcing her and Kim to relay the news to Patrick.

Feeling as though he’s lost any chance of connecting with his long lost grandson, the door is left ajar when Sandra reaches out to Kim and arranges a meeting between them and Josh.

Lauren is utterly crestfallen when she and Peter Beale (Thomas Law) meet the mother of a baby who’s also visually impaired and learns of the astronomical cost of specialist nursery. With few options, they both turn to their families for money.

Elsewhere, Billy’s chilled to the bone over Bea’s obsession with his family and Suki faces off with both Penny and Vinny over their pregnancy.

Thursday, March 19

After a week of conflict between her, Vinny and Suki, Penny makes it clear to the grandma of her child: Penny and Vinny will be having their baby, whether she likes it or not.

In response to Max making effort to make things right with her, Linda invites him to spend the day with her and Annie (Lois Hawkins).

She’s emboldened further later on when he stands up for her when Johnny coldly dismisses her. Deeply heartened, she heads to The Albert to find him, but is utterly floored by what she finds.