EastEnders has confirmed the biological father of show newcomer Barney Mitchell.
The teen character takes centre stage in a huge twist next week as Zack Hudson’s life is turned upside-down.
Show bosses have been teasing the possibility that Barney could be Zack’s son, as Zack had a fling with Nicola Mitchell years ago.
After months of speculation and fan theories, the mystery is finally resolved next week as Zack gets suspicious.
The drama plays out as he becomes protective over his half-sister Sharon Watts.
Sharon worries when she realises that Bianca Jackson knows about a secret that she’s keeping. She frets about this to Zack, but somebody overhears the conversation.
Barney later admits to Zack that he was the mystery person who was eavesdropping. Zack assures Sharon that he’ll find a way to stop Barney from telling anyone.
Later at the club, Zack confronts Barney and tries to keep him quiet. Their tense exchange is interrupted when Barney suddenly starts bleeding and collapses, as the injury he sustained in the recent pub explosion has been aggravated.
Zack heads to the hospital as Barney gets urgently checked out by the doctors. He overhears a conversation about blood groups and immediately becomes suspicious about what Nicola could be hiding from him.
Before long, Zack confronts Nicola and asks whether he is Barney’s biological father.
Nicola discreetly admits that this is the case, so Zack heads back to the Square to drown his sorrows. His day gets even worse when he receives an unexpected phone call from his ex-fiancée Whitney Dean.
Meanwhile, Nicola shifts her focus to protecting her secret now that Zack knows the truth. She plays a trump card with Sharon, hoping this will be enough to keep Barney and Teddy Mitchell in the dark.
Nicola is convinced that she has the situation under control – and even agrees to a family meal at Walford East with Teddy, Sharon and Zack all in attendance. Is she playing with fire?
EastEnders airs these scenes in the week commencing Monday, March 3 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
