Max finds himself shut out of Abi’s memorial plans in EastEnders

Will Max’s speech change Lauren’s mind?

 10-16 JANUARY

At Peacock Palace, Bea is getting her feet under the table and takes a shine to Max, and Linda offers to pick up the rest of Bea’s stuff from her old flat and then go for a drink.

However, when Ollie has an issue at school, Max offers to take Bea out so Linda can focus on her son, and Bea is thrilled to have a ‘date’ with Max. Stunned to hear that Bea thinks they're going on a date, Max decides to keep up the pretence for Linda's sake.

As he and Lauren discuss a memorial to mark the anniversary of Abi’s death, Oscar invites Max, who promises he’ll come along later, but Max gets waylaid when his ‘date’ with Bea doesn’t go to plan. And Max finds himself in Lauren and Oscar’s bad books over his late arrival.

Meanwhile, Honey comforts Bea, who believes Linda orchestrated a fake date to humiliate her.

As the Brannings and Beales prepare for Abi’s memorial, Lauren tells Max he’s not welcome.

Later, Max hands her and Oscar a speech he’d written for the event and asks them to read it on his behalf.

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