Fans have seen the troubled teen make several mentions of his new mate after returning to the care of his parents Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) last week.

He’d spent months living with Zack Hudson (James Farrar) after being taken into foster care last year following his abuse of mum Kat.

Kat has been anxious about Tommy’s return – a feeling that worsened after his temper flared last week upon learning his parents had to get rid of his game console, annoyed at not being able to speak to his friend.

As we returned to Walford on Monday, Kat was still nervous about Tommy being around his younger twin brothers, Bert and Ernie.

After some words of advice from Alfie, Kat built bridges with her son and they seemed to reach an understanding. But they then suffered a setback when Mo Harris (Laila Morse) left the twins alone with their brother.

Sensing his mum’s distrust, he walked out of the flat. However, mother and son reconciled when Tommy told of how his online friend has been supporting him and promised to show Kat he’d changed his ways.

After being rewarded with a new console, Tommy sat down in the living room to play his game and started talking to his online mate ‘Matt’.

But who is ‘Matt’, and is there something more sinister going on?

Spoilers for the rest of this week have already revealed that Kat is stunned when she eventually learns the truth.

Later in the week, Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) overhears Kat and Alfie discussing it, leading to Nugget Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) and Denzel Danes (Jaden Ladega) taunting Tommy about it at McKlunky’s.