Anthony Trueman’s (Nicholas Bailey) funeral brought on a slew of shocks in EastEnders, namely the return (and arrest) of Anthony’s daughter and killer, Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness).

Another twist saw the return of Howie Danes (Delroy Atkinson), months after his relationship with Kim Fox (Tameka Empson) was decimated by the reveal that he’d turned to stealing as a means to keep Kim in the life she’d become accustomed to, and pocketed cash stolen from Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker).

Wounded by a comment from Kim that her former husband, Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood), was a superior provider, Howie buried his guilt after reclaiming the money stolen from Patrick by Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier), keeping his mouth shut and keeping the dosh for himself.

He later picked up a second job in parcel delivery alongside his work as a postman, but upon discovering just how valuable some of the items he was transporting were, he was unable to resist helping himself to fund his family.

When Anthony discovered that the ring Howie’d used to propose to Kim was stolen from Penny Branning (Kitty Castledine), Howie did some digging of his own. Discovering that Anthony’s wife had filed a restraining order against him, they formed an incredibly uneasy truce, both agreeing to keep the others secret.

But this is Soapland, right? And secrets are legally prohibited from remaining so for too long, and when a concerned Howie confided in Kim about Anthony’s recent dark behaviour, the engagement party quickly exploded as everyone’s tea was spilled.

Kim wasted little time in ending the engagement, banishing Howie from the house and the family while declaring their relationship officially dead.

So while things were understandably tense when he returned to offer his support to the Trueman clan last week, Kim finds herself leaning on Howie for support next week, as Patrick’s reliance on an AI recreation of his deceased son increases and her attempts to get through to him fail.

Upon seeing a struggling Kim in the Vic, Howie decides to intervene and talks to Patrick himself.

Patrick, however, has some advice of his own and tells Howie to plough all of his efforts into winning Kim back.

Patrick rallies his family together to go for a midday drink, and Kim’s jaw hits the floor when Howie emerges and begins serenading her, flanked by two drag queens to complete the performance.