Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) has made a grand return to Albert Square – and she’s not happy with cousin Kat (Jessie Wallace).
As viewers of the soap know, Jean fled the area last month in the wake of her break-up with Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman).
His affair with Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) had been publicly exposed in front of the Queen Vic punters, leaving poor Jean humiliated. This was just hours after she proposed to him.
Realising that there was now too much water under the bridge, she decided to take a break with Big Mo (Laila Morse). During their absence, Harvey wriggled his way back into the family dynamic – even if Kat tried to prevent it.
She was furious to be conned into a new business venture with him, running a limousine hire.
With the vehicle in both of their names, they had no option but to proceed with their idea. Her long-term partner and ex-husband Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) suggested staging a wedding photoshoot, but the idea clearly gave him food for thought.
After consulting Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) for some advice, he got down on one knee and popped the question to Kat.
She was more than happy to accept, and they came up with a brilliant idea to get Harvey and Kathy to pay for half of their celebrations – given the photos would be used to publicise the limo.
There was one big issue though. Jean was still in the dark about the business deal, and was still in an awful mood. Kat dodged around the subject, but with this being EastEnders, it wasn’t long for everything to be exposed.
As Kat and Alfie raised a glass to their engagement in the pub with Harvey and Kathy, Kim Fox (Tameka Empson) began to plan their joint stag and hen do.
Linda popped the champers, just as Jean strolled in the door. She wrongly assumed that the residents were staging a welcome home party, and was shocked to learn the truth.
She was hurt that Kat hadn’t told her about Alfie’s proposal, and more so that Harvey knew before her. When she found out about the limousine, the floor dropped from beneath her feet.
Jean dealt a vicious slap to Kat, before disowning her from the Slater family.
