Julie Bates (Karen Henthorn) return to EastEnders has been far from plain sailing, but she starts to put down roots next week when she’s offered a new job.
Recent months have seen the 90s character reunited with her estranged husband Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley), who’d previously walked out on their marriage and life in Scotland to protect her from his dementia diagnosis.
Julie has since packed up and moved back down to Walford to live with Nigel at Phil Mitchell’s (Steve McFadden) place, but she has been in constant battle with Phil about Nigel’s care.
Now seemingly sticking around for the foreseeable future, last week’s episodes saw Julie preparing to interview for a job at Walford High.
On Monday, an excited Julie reveals that her application has been successful and she’s due to start at the school.
However, her new role unwittingly thrusts her into the teenage incel storyline involving Joel Marshall (Max Murray).
Joel has exhibited some disgusting behaviour since arriving in Walford earlier this year, having recorded himself and Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) having sex without her consent, before sexually harassing a passenger on the tube.
His dad Ross Marshall (Alex Walkinshaw) has been incapable of getting a handle on his son’s misogyny, and recent scenes saw Joel troll Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) online and turn violent towards Ross’ partner Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig).
Vicki is furious in forthcoming scenes when she finds out Joel has skipped school to attend a podcast recording hosted by a misogynistic influencer he follows online.
Exhausted by Joel’s behaviour, Vicki turns to Julie for help, who agrees to talk to him.
She attempts to get Joel to open up about his misogynistic beliefs, b
