In upcoming episodes of EastEnders, we’ll see Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) continuing his fight to get custody of his granddaughter Lexi, who was of course taken into care after social services deemed that the baby’s mother Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold) wasn’t capable of caring for the infant properly.

And later this week, after Phil learns that his son Ben – who is of course Lexi’s father – is to be tried for manslaughter rather than murder in the Heather Trott case, he will suggest that Ben and Lola get married, in order to formalize his status as Lexi’s granddad.

But not unreasonably, Lola’s horrified at the idea, given that she doesn’t even want Ben to know he’s Lexi’s dad. And her granddad Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) also doesn’t want Ben to have anything to do with the baby.

Speaking to Inside Soap magazine recently, a show insider said, “The moment Lexi was taken away was the worst time of Lola’s life…

“As the weeks go on and Lexi is still not back with her, Lola is getting more and more desperate.

“She’ll consider doing almost anything to get her little girl back again. But it’s really hard for her to trust Phil after everything he’s done.”

We’ll see Phil suggesting that Ben could marry Lola in Thursday’s episode, which is an idea that he’s going to put to his son when he visits him in prison to tell him all about Lexi.

However, as we’ll learn in Friday’s visit to Albert Square, Phil changes his mind at the last minute about telling Ben, which Lola’s relieved about, but it does of course mean that Phil has to rethink his strategy over getting custody of Lexi.

We’ll keep you posted on any further developments.