EASTENDERS fans heaped praise on Jack Branning for delivering a “powerful” speech to Tiffany Butcher after she got involved with a drugs gang.
The concerned ex-copper is Tiffany’s great uncle and he desperately tried to get through to the troubled teen after discovering bruises on her wrists.
Jack and his niece, Sonia Jackson, were left horrified when they found Tiffany cradling a beaten and bloodied Evie Steele at the end of last night’s episode of the BBC One soap, rushing her to hospital at the beginning of tonight’s instalment.
Aware that the girls had become involved with drug dealers, Jack took Tiffany to one side and said: “Don’t tell anyone, is that what they told you?
“You met them in a cafe, in a park, in a chicken shop probably, a boy giving you all the chat… It felt good, didn’t it?
“A bit out there but someone taking notice. Then you probably met this one, he pulled you in a bit closer, bought you little presents, told you you were special – and you thought, ‘You know what? This lot have got my back.’
“It felt good to have people around you, but then they asked you to do a little favour… Hold onto a bag, take a package to a mate, and you know it’s not what they told you it was.”
“So then what?” he continued, “You lose some gear, you couldn’t sell it for enough – then you’ve got a debt so they give you another job, a bigger one.
“The debts get bigger and the jobs get bigger and before you know it it’s a lot less sparkly than it was and people start getting hurt.
“This is what they do to kids like you, it goes on and it won’t stop.”
Tearful Tiffany begged her uncle to “make it” stop, with the former policeman telling her: “Only you can.”
Viewers at home were overwhelmed by Jack’s moving speech, taking to social media to admit that they hoped other young people were watching at home so that they can be warned off joining gangs.
One fan wrote: “Jack is really good. He is actually the hero here, love it.”
Another added: “Good speech from Jack on #EastEnders about the dark side of gangs and drug dealing.
“We can only hope that kids are taking it in.”
A third said: “Well done #EastEnders brilliant storyline about gangs and child grooming. Tonight’s episode left me in tears”.
Tiff eventually asked Jack to “help” her and Evie, with the character remaining true to his word as he promised police protection and a new identity for Tiff’s endangered friend – on the condition that she doesn’t contact Tiffany again.
The two girls shared an emotional goodbye at the end of the episode, with Tiff sobbing as Evie was driven away in the back of a police car.
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