EastEnders has confirmed that Peter Beale and Lauren Branning will be involved in a major drama following a proposal.

The pair’s relationship has been strained over the last few months, with Peter seeing his family descend into turmoil after his grandmother, Kathy, was revealed as the attacker of his mother, Cindy.

Cindy has since left Walford – with the financial aid of Ian – following the devastating explosion at The Vic, with the character spending time with her friend Gita. This all changes in next week’s scenes, however, with Peter hearing from Gita that Cindy has gone AWOL.

This development causes him to stress, with the character missing his baby scan appointment with Lauren as a result. She later scolds him for his forgetfulness, lamenting how Cindy was haunting their lives despite not being present in Albert Square.

A disconsolate Peter continues to work at Beale’s Eels, though Kathy and Ian offer him some advice as they notice his downtrodden mood. They urge him to make amends, and he attempts to do this in the grandest possible manner – via a proposal.

He gets a shock, however, as Lauren declines his offer. She later divulges her reasons for rejecting in a conversation with Kathy and Peter, though the latter is still confused. Later on, he heads to Lauren’s for crisis talks regarding their relationship.

𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 “𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 & 𝑾𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆: 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠.𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜” 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐬

What exactly are Lauren’s reasons for rejecting Peter’s hand in marriage? And will the pair be able to recover and move forward from this, or does it spell the end for this tumultuous romance? …

Whilst Peter and Lauren will be left reeling at the potential breakdown of their relationship, there is also some drama on the other side of Cindy’s family, with her daughters Gina and Anna set to be involved in a rivalry as they compete for a bartending job.