EE: next week (spoilers)

carmelina · Joined: 12 May 2006 Location: Estonia

EASTENDERS
Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri - BBC1

SCHEMING Stella cleverly manipulates little Ben into persuading Phil to propose to her, then happily accepts. Poor Phil has no idea he has been totally tricked by his cruel and devious bride-to-be.

“Phil trusts Stella – and she is good in bed,” says Steve McFadden, who plays the three-times married Mr Mitchell.

“But most important for Phil is that he desperately wants to make Ben happy. Phil has always been a bit of a ‘brassy blondes’ bloke, but now he wants a mum for Ben and a companion for himself. He wants a bit of stability in his life.”

Stella starts the week by re-establishing her dominance over Ben. She pours water on him while he’s asleep to make him think he has wet the bed, then comforts him. Later, she helps him avoid the bullies and lies to Phil that Ben stood up for himself – then she convinces the lad to ask his father to marry her.

“Phil is very shocked when Ben says he wants him to propose to Stella,” explains Steve. “He’s not sure what to do, but Ben breaks his heart by saying he has lost one mum and doesn’t want to lose another one! Talk about emotional blackmail!”

Next day, Stella lets Phil think she has been offered a new job up in Manchester. Worried she’s going to leave, Phil asks her to marry him.

“He can’t face losing the one person he feels is making his little boy’s life good,” adds Steve. “Of course, Phil is being a soft touch. But his kids are his Achilles’ heel. He might have screwed up his own life, but he wants to do this for Ben.

“Who knows what Phil will do if he ever finds out the truth about Stella – he might go mad, or he might have a nervous breakdown!”

Furious May smashes up the flat with a golf club after Rob walks out on her to be with Dawn and their baby.

“It’s a shattering blow,” says Amanda Drew, who plays the devastated doctor. “May wants to be a mother more than anything in the world and getting Dawn’s baby was her last hope.

“It’s a need that turned into an obsession as she plotted with Rob to dupe Dawn. Now it feels as if she’s lost everything.”

Rob tells a dumbstruck May at the start of the week that he is leaving her for Dawn. “May is totally traumatised – and goes completely mental,” adds Amanda. “It feels like her life has no point to it now.”

As Rob and Dawn kiss in the Square, May throws Rob’s stuff out, before agreeing to go for a drink with Jane. The Vic is reduced to tense silence when Rob and Dawn walk in.

“May coldly takes off her wedding ring in front of everyone and leaves,” reveals Amanda. “Now, May wants her revenge and Jane gives her ideas of how to get her own back.

May intends to do everything she can to ruin Rob. “He has wrecked her life, so May feels totally justified. Rob and Dawn should watch out!”

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