Ben Wadey teases 6 big storylines coming up on EastEnders

2 hours ago
4 min read

And there are some familiar faces returning...

This week, I was lucky enough to be invited down to Albert Square to meet EastEnders' newest family, the Hawkins (find out more here) and hear from the show's Executive Producer, Ben Wadey, who teased six big storylines coming up on the soap.

Here's what he had to say...

Sean Slater returning long term

"I think Sean is one of those characters who just promises chaos and energy and unpredictability. I was such a big fan of the show in the noughties when he was so prevalent on the show. He's arriving at an interesting point for the Slater clan. But he has connections all over the place. He saw Amy as his child briefly. And I think he still holds on to that a little bit. So he's got those connections."

"Him and Max have somewhat a checkered past. Him and Jack also very complicated. So it was one of those characters that can land back in the show and immediately have conflict or love with everyone. And we're really interested in, who is Sean at this age? Who is Sean as a 40-year-old man? And seeing him grow up a little bit, but not growing up too much, because you still want the fun old classic Sean Slater. And it's been great."

"He's been filming for a couple of weeks now and I get to go in and look at the daily footage and just watching some of those early scenes and being like "OK, Sean's back. This is good." So I can't wait for all of you to see him. We've got very exciting plans for him."

Lee and Nancy Carter returning ahead of Linda's exit

"You may have read that Kellie Bright is very sadly leaving us after so many brilliant years in the programme. I'm quite close to Kelly, and she's such a phenomenal actor."

"Linda Carter is one of the all-time great EastEnders characters. So losing her is such a big moment for the show, and we wanted to make sure we see Linda at her best in her final few months. So we'll be welcoming Lee and Nancy back into the fold for a period, in a story that I guarantee your jaws will drop when you see the first cliffhanger."

Suki and Eve are set for a major new storyline

"Suki and Eve have something big coming up. We deliberately played out the adoption story very slowly and very realistically, because it's a real world issue and we wanted to get that right. But Suki's been a little bit quiet for a little while and we wanted to correct that. So, Suki and Eve have something quite major coming up. We're going to do a little announcement in the coming weeks, to tease that a little bit more."

It's wedding wars for Kim and Cindy

"There's a double wedding coming up! So, it's kind of a bit of wedding wars. We've got Cindy and Max's wedding. What could possibly go wrong? Apart from Max shagging Priya behind Cindy's back!"

"And Kim and Howie's wedding. The Trueman-Fox's are going through a difficult time, as you'll know, Denise being diagnosed with leukaemia and is going through chemotherapy. There's a real effort, a sustained effort to keep the family buoyant and afloat, and let's do this wedding. And it's amazing, but it's laced with that - Is it because they need to get it done so that Denise can be there and witness the wedding?"

"I love these scenes because you've got Cindy throwing money at it and Max throwing money at it, but it's not going quite as well as they would like, given Howie can't afford that massive lavish wedding, and they'll have obstacles in their own way. But some of the scenes in a few weeks in September, on the day of their actual wedding, had me crying with laughter. And yeah, I think you guys are going to really enjoy that."

Denise's story continues with new family members

"We have more of Denise's extended family as part of the search to find her stem cell donor. We get to meet her long-lost brother, Darnell, who she didn't even know existed, and Darnell's daughter, Grace. They're really joyous characters because they're quite down to earth and normal, and they're kind of watching Walford from afar, being like this place is mad. and kind of dipping their toe in, not quite sure how they're going to integrate."

"What it allows us to do is kind of have these slightly like straight men within the show, not sure how they're going to fit in response to this drama. And of course, we will suck them into it and they'll end up kind of within our hurricane of joy and drama."

"Over the coming months, Denise's story continues, which has all of the emotions. Some of the episodes next week, are some of the most powerful episodes that I've watched since I've been here. Have a box of tissues ready, is what I'd say. Diane Parish and that entire cast, all her family are just extraordinary in their performances."

Max Branning to make more enemies

"Of course there is the flashforward. We have been building to this for well over a year now, and it was so satisfying just watching these final storylines coming together and having the scripts land and getting so excited about them."

"Some of our longest serving and most talented writers are putting their biggest brains across these episodes. And they are quite something. There's going to be a lot going on, and we're kind of playing a game over the autumn of how many people can Max Branning piss off before New Year's Day? The answer is quite a lot, actually. So you can tick them off in your bingo lists as we go along."

EastEnders continues Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One with first look episodes available from 6am on BBC iPlayer

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