The EastEnders 40th anniversary week is finally upon us, and a new spoiler video has revealed the moment a furious Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) lures Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) into a trap.
We discovered last week that she’d been working with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) to worm her way into Ian’s home in an attempt to find her missing locket.
The jewellery, which originally belonged to Cindy’s daughter Lucy, went missing after she was smacked around the head with a shovel on Christmas Day.
Since then, she’s pointed her finger at just about every single member of her extended family – but blaming Ian seemed to be the the last straw.
Furious, he threw his ex-wife out of their house, and she subsequently returned to stay with her lover Junior Knight (Micah Balfour).
Cindy knew that she needed to get some hard evidence to finally pin the blame on him, though without the locket, she may as well forget the whole incident.
Enter Priya, who had agreed to get close to Ian in exchange for cash.
She firstly enjoyed a drink with him in The Queen Vic, before heading back to his sofa for a flirtatious conversation. The two were soon interrupted by Kathy (Gillian Taylforth), who was suspicious of her true intentions.
Later, Ian invited her round for a home-cooked meal, with Priya lacing his wine with laxatives so that he’d be glued to the loo during her desperate search for the necklace.
Fearing that she would be caught, she then jumped into his bed!
Ian couldn’t see that anything was wrong, so plated up some of the leftovers and decided to take them to her house.
As he approached the property, he noticed that Cindy was handing over a bundle of cash to Priya. Their game plan had been rumbled.
In a new spoiler video from tonight’s episode, Ian is not a happy bunny and Kathy implores him to not allow Cindy to ‘get in [his] head.’
The family are preparing for Billy and Honey Mitchell’s (Perry Fenwick and Emma Barton) wedding, which is set to be explosive for all the wrong reasons – as The Vic burns to the ground.
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Ahead of EastEnders' 40th Anniversary next month - which will see the reveal of Cindy Beale's attacker - Metro narrows down the key suspects in the case.
- George Knight: Told his family that he was partaking in an illegal underground boxing match, but also later asked his brother Kojo to back up his alibi. Admitted to Gina that he wasn't at the fight.
- Elaine Peacock: Enraged that Cindy still had eyes for her husband, she could've whacked her through jealousy.
- Gina Knight: Was seen exiting the barrel store - where the weapon was hidden - on Christmas night. She also had a fling with Freddie Slater on the evening.
- Anna Knight: Found the shovel in the barrel store and decided to hide it for fears of her family being implicated.
- Kojo Asare: Was previously manipulated by Cindy, and promised George that he would make it up to him for hiding the affair.
- Junior Knight: Planning to flee the area in the immediate aftermath, could he be furious that the affair hit a dead end and ruined his relationship with his father? He also stole the shovel from the Vic roof.
- Ian Beale: Could've been responsible through an angry and jealous rage after the betrayal. He's also welcomed Cindy back into his home... possibly to cover his tracks?
- Kathy Cotton: Lets face it, she's never been Cindy's biggest fan. She'd also do anything for golden boy Ian.
- Lauren Branning: Admitted that she turned over Cindy's body in the immediate aftermath, but her memory of the night is hazy after taking illegal painkillers.
- Peter Beale: Could've attacked his mum over the breakdown in his family, and putting his unborn baby at risk.
- Somebody else?: Big Mo is clearly a Metro reader, as she supported our theory that Bobby Beale could be behind the vicious altercation - despite living in the Cotswolds.
Ian then picks up his phone and calls Priya, asking him to meet him in the cafe… he has a surprise for her.
What is he going to do?
He then stares at a retro picture of the Beale and Fowler families before declaring: ‘Nobody gets the better of the Beales.’
Uh-oh.
Ahead of the BBC soap going live on Thursday, the identity of Cindy’s assailant will be revealed, with her aiming a gun at the suspect.
Will they make it out alive?
If you’ve got a soap or TV story, video or pictures get in touch by emailing us soaps@metro.co.uk – we’d love to hear from you.
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