KAREN and Keanu Taylor’s secret kidnapping scam is on the verge of coming to light this week as Phil Mitchell tries to get to the truth.
Elsewhere in EastEnders, two characters are growing closer than ever while another couple could be ripped apart for good.
Sharon Watts (played by Letitia Dean) was a shell of herself when the police decided to rummage throughout Walford in an attempt to find baby Albie safe and sound.
Little did the businesswoman know then that her son’s days were far from numbered as he was in the hands of Malcolm – his paternal grand-uncle.
Malcolm was brought into the equation by Karen (Lorraine Stanley) and her son Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) who had been planning to drain Sharon’s finances dry as revenge over her plans to leave Albert Square and go to Abu Dhabi with Albie.
Karen and Keanu managed to bag a whopping amount of money Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) gave Sharon to retrieve Albie.
Unfortunately, while everybody else if none the wiser, Mitch Baker (Roger Griffiths) figures out what has been going on and Karen isn’t exactly the most discreet about her windfall.
All this leads to the launderette manager facing a lot of trouble this week on BBC One.
Coming up, Mitch is unimpressed by Karen splashing the cash in The Vic, and Phil gets suspicious.
Later, Mitch – goes to confront Keanu over the kidnap plot and involving Karen, but he’s unrepentant.
Rattled by his family’s behaviour, Mitch ends up in an accident when his van hits Harvey Monroe’s taxi.
Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) demands Mitch pays for the damage, and Karen goes behind his back to settle the debt using the stolen Mitchell money.
Phil examines the notes Karen gave Kat and sees they are his marked bills, but she demands more proof.
After setting his younger sister Sam (Kim Medcalf) on the case, Phil gets the evidence he needs to prove Karen and Keanu staged Albie’s kidnap from the get-go.
In later scenes, Phil is on a mission to prove he’s right about Keanu and Karen, starting at The Arches.
Kat catches him searching the place and he shares his evidence.
She’s incredulous and suggests that if Karen’s got the money, it’ll be hidden closer to home.
Phil goes to No.23b but gets turned away by Felix Baker (Matthew James Morrison).
Later on, he sneakily sends Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) over and the youngster finds the money hidden under Karen’s bed.
Meanwhile, Sharon excitedly announces she and Keanu will hold their wedding reception at The Vic on Christmas Day, just before Phil bursts in to tell her that Karen and her beau staged Albie’s kidnap for money.
What will Karen do?
Will Sharon even react?
Viewers will have to wait and see but due to Phil’s penchant for violence and vengeance, one could suggest that he may retaliate against Karen.
While he may not kill her off or target her in a brutal beating, he may convince her to leave Albert Square once and for all for the good of Sharon and her family with Keanu.
Could Phil even team up with Sharon to finally get rid of Karen?
Meanwhile, fans of the London-based program are convinced they know who the unknown male victim shown in a grisly flash-forward earlier this year could be.
To top it off, they’ve even figured out who could be responsible for their death.
Denise Fox (played by Diane Parish) missed out on a handful of events that have kept viewers at the edge of their seats.
During her absence, her husband Jack (played by Scott Maslen) has been taking on all sorts of duties – including babysitting as he’s left in charge of his granddaughter Charli this week.
However, it’s soon clear that he’s in over his head with the tot and he calls Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) for help.
Thankfully, Denise soon arrives home from her holiday early, meaning Jack will no longer be alone to take everything in charge.
Denise wants the Walford gossip but before Jack can reveal that Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) is staying with them, she bursts in, much to Denise’s disgust.
Jack launches a charm offensive on Denise to get her to forgive him over the Sam debacle.
However, they fall out again when Denise discovers Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) is back and Jack didn’t tell her.
Things get even worse when she learns the true circumstances of Sam’s return.
Later, Jack turns to Stacey for support before returning home to angry Denise.
Upon his comeback, Denise gives him a harsh ultimatum – either Sam goes, or she will.
In later scenes, Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) tries to give Denise relationship advice as she smarts over Jack’s antics.
At the Branning house, Sam understands that she can’t stay and tells Jack that Denise is a good woman and not many people would have taken on his troubled kids.
As Jack shows Sam out, he sees Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) mouthing off at Denise, and isn’t happy due to their chequered past with the gangster.
Denise and Jack reconcile but they are clearly uneasy around each other.
Could this be a hint that their marriage is headed down the drain?
Viewers have rumbled chemistry between Jack Branning and Stacey Slater as they have bonded whilst coming to terms with their young children, Lily and Ricky, becoming parents.
Jack has also tried to help Stacey when Theo Hawthorne was making her life a misery by terrorising her and stalking her.
This has led many soap fans to theorise that Stacey and Jack may embark on an affair, leading to Denise becoming jealous.
The theory was seemingly confirmed for viewers through the many trailers dropped ahead of the upcoming Christmas whodunnit as Denise can be seen wearing a green dress.
Overcome with envy and fear for her marriage, Denise is expected to lash out and kill Jack in a fit of rage.
“I am shooketh that with this whole Stacey and Jack thing, Jack is actually the Christmas body and it is Denise that kills him in a jealous rage”, one viewer suggested on Twitter, known as X.
They added: “Omg cos Denise’s colour is green – as in ENVY.”
Could they be on to something?
Another revenge twist could in the works this week as Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) receives shock news about his comatose wife Debbie.
Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) has been romantically involved with Reiss for several months and the pair have taken their relationship to the next level.
In recent scenes of the long-running drama, the couple chose to welcome a child and opted for the IVF route as Reiss was revealed to be sterile.
This week, the happy couple prepare for the next stage of IVF and plan a romantic night together.
But throughout their romance, Sonia has always feared Reiss could be called back to stand by his wife Debbie.
As viewers may recall, Debbie has been comatose after suffering from a huge stroke and Reiss has frequently taken care of her while letting his relationship with Sonia evolve.
Updates about Debbie’s condition have been rare but after planning a romantic date with the Walford nurse, Reiss gets a call to say Debbie has a bad infection.
Reiss rushes to the hospital and, in later scenes, Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) goes to see Sonia as she waits for an update from Reiss on Debbie’s condition.
However, Sonia is ashamed when she confides in Kathy that she feels haunted by Debbie.
Making matters worse, Sonia fears their IVF attempt may be left out of Reiss’ priorities due to the latest emergency.
Later, a broken Reiss returns home after a difficult night at Debbie’s bedside and Sonia comforts him.
EastEnders fans predicted a major twist in Reiss and Sonia’s storyline as they expect Debbie to wake up from her coma and expose her husband for his dastardly deeds.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Reiss confessed to Debbie that he was using money from her account to fund his IVF journey with Sonia and he claimed he would be paying her back.
One viewer took to X and penned: “Fam this Debbie woman is gonna wake up and I’m dreading it.”
Another added: “Debbie’s going to make a miracle recovery, isn’t she? Just in time to find out her husband is having a baby with another woman and has taken all her money.”
“Debbie will wake up soon methinks”, a third agreed.
Could they be right?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
