EastEnders has aired life-changing news for Stacey Slater (played by Lacey Turner), and it’s all down to her ex-husband, Martin Fowler (James Bye).

As fans of the BBC soap will know, Martin tragically died in February following an explosion at The Queen Vic. While Stacey has been struggling to come to terms with her loss, she has started to look to the future.

Firstly, Stacey encouraged Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) to reopen Martin’s iconic fruit and veg stall with Peter (Thomas Law) taking the reins. But Ian is also set on buying The Vic as Linda (Kellie Bright) confirmed it will be sold at auction.

In a bid to annoy Ian, Stacey and cousin Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) pretended that Stacey won a huge £100k on a scratch card, which she would use to take ownership, and shopkeeper Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota) also played along.

However, on Wednesday (16th July), Stacey confessed the lottery win was one big joke, leaving Ian even more determined to buy the boozer as he looked on relieved at the news.

Meanwhile, Stacey and Eve Panesar-Unwin (Heather Peace) were left spooked when a mystery man with a clipboard loitered outside the house. Former solicitor Eve later confronted him, thinking he was a bailiff.

But when Stacey, assuming she had missed some payments, and insisted that she would pay up soon, the man explained he was actually from a life insurance company.

Martin had made Stacey the beneficiary of his life insurance policy, totalling the exact amount she had lied about winning on the scratch card.

Stacey was floored that her Martin had the sense to take out a life insurance policy, though she knew he would also want to make sure his family was well looked after.

Although relieved that the kids were now going financially stable, Stacey admitted that nothing could ever make up for losing Martin.

Speaking to Kat, Stacey mapped out her intentions to give some money to Martin’s eldest daughter Bex (Jasmine Armfield) and youngest child Roman Allen.

But she also wanted to invest, and told Kat that she wanted them to be business partners so they could buy The Vic together, with Kat running the bar.

However, EastEnders fans have pointed out that Stacey wants to buy the same pub where Martin died, with his own insurance policy, branding the plan ‘pathetic’. The Vic was also where Stacey’s other ex-husband, Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements), also died.

Taking to X, one person pointed out: “So Stacey is going to use Martin’s life insurance to purchase the pub he died in… #eastenders.”

A second added: “Why would Stacey use Martin’s life insurance money to buy the pub where he (and Bradley) died #EastEnders.”

While a third simply stated: “Pathetic Stacey #EastEnders.”

Another asked: “Why does Stacey buy the Vic? 1. Martin died there. 2. Archie raped her in the Vic 3. Witnessed Nish’s attack/Keanu’s death in the Vic 4. She killed Archie in the Vic. #EastEnders @bbceastenders.”