Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) is dealt a stark warning in EastEnders next week.
As viewers of the BBC One soap know, the youngster has had quite a difficult year. He was taken into foster care after abusing mum Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), and subsequently entered a friendship with an unknown online friend.
It later transpired that his new mate didn’t exist – it was artificial intelligence. Tommy faced ridicule from his peers, but there was one person who could see past it.
Newcomer Joel Marshall (Max Murray) swanned into Albert Square from Australia, bringing with him a lorry load of new issues to put upon Tommy.
He’d been forced to flee the country alongside dad Ross (Alex Walkinshaw) and his partner Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig) when he upskirted a pupil in his class.
Ross coughed up $50,000 in exchange for the girl’s silence, but her family demanded that they also return to the UK.
Joel has since gone on to introduce naïve Tommy to pornography, and recorded himself having sex with Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James). She’s since received significant online backlash from teens who have found out they’ve slept together.
In upcoming scenes, Joel’s troubled behaviour worsens… and he entwines Tommy into the scheme.
The boys are returning from a day out together, and when they board a tube, Joel whips out his phone and instructs Tommy to start recording.
Stumbling through the carriage, he falls onto another passenger – Isla – and touches her inappropriately.
Tommy is horrified by the encounter, and a furious Isla rushes over to the police at Walford East to ensure that Joel is apprehended. At the station, Ross demands answers from his son, while Vicki has her own matters to discuss.
Cornering Isla, she assures her that she will take appropriate action to prevent Joel from committing such an act again. Vicki also swaps phone numbers, should Isla need to contact her in future.
Later that night, the two women meet up. Vicki offers a significant financial settlement in the hope she’ll drop her complaint and keep quiet.
What will Isla do?
As a shaken Tommy tries to put things right with Joel, he also finds himself in Vicki’s firing line. She orders him to not utter a word about the incident, or she’ll dob him in as a co-conspirator. After all, he was the one recording.
