EastEnders spoilers follow for Tuesday’s (March 10) episode, which is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
After a month away from screens, Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) staged a return during the latest offering of the BBC One soap, taking his family by surprised when he unexpectedly entered the Vic.
The pub landlord, as fans will remember, left Walford last month to visit Spencer in Australia, fearing for his little brother’s mental health in the wake of ex Vicki Fowler’s (Alice Haig) engagement to Ross Marshall (Alex Walkinshaw), which he found out about via social media.
And it’s safe to say that Alfie missed out on quite a lot of drama since his departure, including Zoe Slater’s (Michelle Ryan) sudden release from prison after Kat (Jessie Wallace) uncovered the truth about Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) being to blame for Anthony Trueman’s (Nicholas Bailey) murder.
As Alfie got reacquainted with the local boozer and jokingly berated Mo Harris (Laila Morse) for ‘stealing’ drinks from the family,Zoe informed him that he’d just missed Kat, who is off to see Lynne.
Alfie joked that he could ‘do without’ Kat’s bedside manner given the way he was feeling following the flight and his attention was soon elsewhere when he set his sights upon Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf), who arrived in the pub following her latest round of radiotherapy.
Sam, as viewers know, was diagnosed with breast cancer late last year and, after seeking support from her loved ones, she subsequently underwent surgery to remove the tumour.
In a heartfelt scene, Alfie – who battled prostate cancer a number of years ago -proved supportive, asking her how the treatment has been going and if she’s experienced all the side effects.
‘Does it get any easier?’, asked Sam, struggling more than she was letting on.
‘I ain’t going to lie to you but I think I know you well enough that you’ll be able to handle this’, he responded kindly.
Sam smiled, grateful for his encouraging words as the two friends shared a warm hug.
The scene comes just weeks after Sam decided to stay in the Square, having had a change of heart about going back to Portugal.
‘This feels wrong’, she said as she was about to get into a taxi and thus decided to call off her trip and stay put.
Fans were delighted to learn that Sam, one of the show’s most popular characters, was sticking around for a bit longer, hopeful that her stint will crossover with the return of brother Grant (Ross Kemp) so that, together with Phil (Steve McFadden), the Mitchell siblings can be all together again once more.
