On Monday, Max is awake in hospital and wants to find out what happened to him. He’s getting more and more frustrated with the doctor’s advice and is determined to recover as fast as possible.

When Jack visits Max, the conversation soon turns nasty when Max asks his brother if it was him who tried to kill him. Angered by Jack’s response, Max demands that Jack bring his kids in to see him. Jack leaves but not before refusing to let the kids visit. D.I. Keeble then drops in on Max and asks him if he ever felt in any physical danger from Tanya. With the memories of being buried alive flooding back, Max reluctantly replies “no”.

Later, Max discharges himself and returns to the Square, much to Abi’s delight. Jack and Lauren, however, aren’t pleased to see him. As Max uses Abi to make sure he can stay at the house, Jack tries to use Lauren against him. An argument ensues while Lauren looks on from the top of the stairs. However, Jack is forced to hand his brother the keys to the house and reluctantly leaves Lauren, Abi and Oscar in Max’s care.

Once Jack’s out of the house, Max asks Lauren why she’s been avoiding him and she eventually tells him that it’s because he made Peter dump her. Max apologises and Lauren’s attitude softens, however, when he asks her if she thinks he deserved what happened, she replies “yes” and runs upstairs.

Meanwhile, Suzy hints to Phil about her birthday so he turns to Shirley for advice about a birthday present. Elsewhere, Whitney’s at the end of her tether with having to look after the kids, Chelsea and Lucas go out for a meal and Ian sets Lucy the challenge of getting £1,000 together by the end of the week, and if she does, he says he’ll double it!

Also, Tiffany’s desperate for sponsorship for her sponsored silence and Vinnie asks Callum to leave Walford with him, which Shirley overhears.

In Tuesday’s episode, Max is struggling to look after the kids at the Branning household so he’s delighted when a surprised Dot arrives. She immediately questions his ability to look after the children and says he’s in no fit state. Later, she agrees to watch the kids while Max visits Tanya at the prison but when she sees Max waiting for her, she refuses to have any contact with him.

When Max gets home, Dot tells him that Jack’s popping round later to pick up the rest of his belongings. Dot’s not at all surprised when Max tells her that Tanya didn’t want to see him but Max is surprised that Dot’s seemingly condoning Tanya’s actions. Dot reassures him that she’s not, but adds that she understands why Tanya did what she did.

Later, Max goes to return the rest of Jack’s things and tells him to steer clear of him and the kids from now on. Ronnie walks in on their argument and can’t believe that Jack has left Max with the children in his state. Meanwhile, Tanya agrees to see Dot at the prison and is stunned to hear that Jack’s moved out of the house. Dot suggests that Tanya speak to Max and put the kids first for once.

Tanya then agrees to see Max and tells him to stay away from the kids. Max, however, insists that they’re safe with him. When Max pushes Tanya for an admission that she was responsible for the hit-and-run, she can’t say it; what’s Tanya hiding?

Elsewhere, Tony hears that Lauren’s pulled out of the table tennis tournament, Heather’s upset when Shirley cancels their night out and Patrick and Denise discuss Yolande’s move to Birmingham.

Suzy celebrates her 42nd birthday and buys a Chihuahua – much to Phil’s annoyance – Jack thanks Ronnie for letting him move in, and later, Phil reluctantly sacks Shirley after she has a row with Suzy and Patrick decides to try to get Denise and Lucas back together.

On Thursday, Lauren makes arrangements with Tony to attend a gig with him later that night. However, Whitney walks in on Tony with the tickets but he turns the situation on its head and accuses her of spoiling the surprise he had planned for her. She apologises and reassures him that she’ll wear something special for him.

At the Brannings, Max notices that Lauren’s overnight bag contains a dressy outfit and he confronts her over where she’s going. When she admits that she’s going to a gig that Tony organised through the youth centre, Max is livid and grounds her but later, over at R&R, Jack bumps into Lauren, who asks for his help…

Meanwhile, Max confronts Tony about taking Lauren to the gig, but Tony successfully digs himself out of a tricky situation when he pushes the blame onto Lauren; she was meant to get parental consent he says. Feeling foolish, Max informs Tony that she won’t be going because she’s grounded.

Inside R&R, Ronnie tries to make Max see sense and tells him that it was Tanya who tried to kill him, not Jack, but he’s not listening. When Jack returns, Max warns his brother that he won’t get away with what he’s done but Max’s attention is soon diverted when he sees Lauren and is speechless when she tells him that she’s moving in with Jack. He’s gutted when she defends Jack and says that she’s glad Tanya tried to kill him.

Elsewhere, Whitney makes a real effort for Tony but he snaps at her and orders her to remove the make-up. Crying, she scrubs the make-up off while Tony shouts at her and at that moment, Ricky walks in. Has Tony finally been rumbled?

Back with Max, he calls D.I. Keeble and says he wants to discuss his case and then tells Keeble that Tanya wasn’t the one who tried to kill him.

With the other residents of the Square, Shirley calls Dot to let her know that Heather’s too unwell for work but the truth is, Shirley has a day of surprises planned for Heather, most of which include cheese. However, Heather’s upset when Vinnie lets slip that Shirley’s leaving Walford with him

Meanwhile, Tony tries to put Whitney off the idea of a 16th birthday party, Ian goes on an economy drive at the café but blames Bianca when the customers start complaining and Patrick, Chelsea and Libby set Denise and Lucas up on a date. Also, Ricky agrees to double Tiffany’s sponsor money if she’s successful, Lucy reaches her £1,000 target, thanks to Bianca and Heather tells Phil that Shirley still loves him.

On Friday, Whitney has tears streaming down her face while Ricky questions Tony as to what he’s playing at. Ricky insinuates that Tony’s reaction to “catching Whitney sneaking out to a gig” was way over the top, but Whitney pleads with him not to tell Bianca about what’s happened. Ricky agrees but threatens Tony that if he lays a finger on any of the kids again, he’ll have him to deal with. Later, Lucas calls Tony to arrange a meeting because he wants him to talk to Lauren about why she’s dropped out of the youth club. As Tony heads across the Square to see Lauren, he bumps into Whitney who apologises for last night.

Soon after, Tony can’t find Lauren anywhere but as he’s searching, he receives a message from Whitney saying she can’t wait to be with him tonight. Later, while Whitney’s waiting for Tony, he finds Lauren on Arthur’s bench. She eventually starts to talk about her family problems and thinks she’s finally found someone who’ll listen…

Meanwhile, Heather insists to Phil that Shirley still loves him but Phil refuses to listen, Later, when Phil later receives another message from Heather, he decides to “pop out to do a bit of business”. At Shirley’s house, Phil hands over her outstanding wages, while Suzy’s back at the house looking through Phil’s phone. When she reads the messages, a plan formulates in her devious mind. Later, as Suzy tries to seduce Phil, Heather turns up again to talk about Shirley.

Later, Phil talks to Shirley about her moving away but she’s cool with him and suggests that she has no reason to stick around. Goading him into making a move, Phil and Shirley eventually become embroiled in a passionate embrace and they move to the bedroom. Afterwards, Phil makes a speedy exit, leaving Shirley sobbing on her bed. Who does Phil want? Shirley or Suzy?

Elsewhere, Lucy comes clean as to how she managed to get her hands on the £1,000, leaving Ian thinking his daughter’s a genius however, it doesn’t last long and he eventually he makes her return all the money.

Denise has arranged another date with Lucas, Phil reassures Ricky that he’s probably reading too much into the situation with Tony and Whitney and Ben’s upset when he hears that Shirley’s leaving Walford.