As we reported recently, when troubled teen Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) decides to go on the wagon and stay sober, her ‘friend’ Lucy Beale will scupper Lauren’s sobriety by spiking her drink.

She does so after Lauren’s boyfriend Joey Branning (David Witts) – who of course formerly dated Lucy – tells her that he’s sick of seeing her drunk and of being embarrassed by her…

So keen to keep her romance with Joey, Lauren will stop drinking, however, with the stress of her dad’s complex relationship with the supposedly pregnant Kirsty (Kierston Wareing) on her mind – and how it’s affecting her mum Tanya (Jo Joyner) – Lauren will forget that Joey was running in a marathon for charity. Read more & comment »

Coming up in next week’s episodes of EastEnders, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) once again seeks solace in the bottom of a glass after the pressure of keeping Kirsty’s pregnancy a secret from her mum Tanya becomes overwhelming…

The drama begins in the episode that airs on Tuesday 16 April when Tanya (Jo Joyner) catches Lauren sneaking out of the house and asks her if she wants to go shopping, adding that she hasn’t seen much of her lately.

Feeling guilty for keeping such a big secret, Lauren declines the offer of a trip out and later tells her dad Max (Jake Wood) that she can’t lie to Tanya any longer, prompting him to promise to tell her that day. Read more & comment »

Fans of EastEnders will know that Jacqueline Jossa’s character Lauren Branning has a problem with booze in that most of the time, she can’t get enough it…

However, in an upcoming storyline, we’re set to see Lauren vow to go on, and stay on, the wagon in a bid to keep her boyfriend – and cousin – Joey Branning (David Witts) who’s set to become tired of seeing his beloved drunk night after night.

But poor Lauren is going to discover there’s a snake in the grass in the form of her supposedly best mate Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) who, in a bid to get Joey back – they of course split when he began dating Lauren – will spike Lauren’s drinks… Read more & comment »

In forthcoming episodes of EastEnders, single dad Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd) will hire Alice Branning to be a nanny to his baby daughter Scarlett…

However, when Alice’s over-protective brother Joey suspects that Michael is taking advantage of the naïve girl, he’s set to punch him, and not surprisingly, the brawl will result in Alice (Jasmyn Banks) being fired.

The drama begins when Joey (David Witts) notices that Alice has a new – and expensive – pair of earrings, and jumping to the wrong conclusion, he surmises that Michael must’ve given them to his sister… Read more & comment »

As fans of EastEnders star David Witts – who of course plays Joey Branning – he won the National Television Award for Best Newcomer on Wednesday night…

However, modest David has revealed that although he was very flattered to have won the award, he’s something of a fish out of water when it comes to the limelight.

Speaking to the Radio Times after winning the award, David said, “I was very nervous coming. I’m very much out of my comfort zone being a ‘celebrity’ for the night.

“But it’s an amazing experience.” Read more & comment »

Last night saw the 18th annual National Television Awards at London’s O2 arena, and what a night it was.

All the stars were out in force to celebrate the highly acclaimed ceremony, with some of them having too much fun…

Before the awards even began Celebrity Juice presenter, Keith Lemon, decided to entertain the cold masses outside on the red carpet with star jumps, after a making a dash to the gents as soon as he arrived.
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Coming up on EastEnders, Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) is set to look on disapprovingly when Joey Branning kisses his girlfriend and cousin, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) in front of her…

And Joey (David Witts) will be angry at how judgmental Whitney’s being, so by way of revenge for her scowl, he’ll tell her that he may just tell her boyfriend Tyler Moon (Tony Discipline) about the kiss they shared towards the end of the year.

That kiss was of course instigated by Joey, but though Whitney did eventually pull away, she didn’t at first, and that’s been making her feel guilty ever since.

However, when Whitney confesses the kiss – and Joey’s threat to tell Tyler – to Bianca (Patsy Palmer), she’ll advice the teenager not to tell Tyler, adding that it’s in the past and there’s no point telling him now… Read more & comment »

EastEnders bosses have of course never shied away from controversial storylines, and in the past, there have been rapes, murders, teenaged pregnancies, AIDS plotlines and child abuse…

So having cousins Joey and Lauren Branning hooking up was perhaps a bit of light relief!

And this week, David Witts, who of course plays Joey, has told the Radio Times that he hopes the romance between his character and Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) will continue for a long time yet, given that it’s been something of a slow burner up until now.

As fans will know, when Joey’s dad Derek (Jamie Foreman) shuffled off the mortal coil at Christmas, it hit Joey unexpectedly hard, but it did make him rethink his priorities, and that rethink took him back into the arms of Lauren, who he’d formerly dumped because Derek blackmailed him into it… Read more & comment »

With the 18th National Television Awards only two weeks away all the votes in the public choice categories have been counted and a short list has now been released for you to vote for your favourites!

The National Television Awards is a celebration of the last year on our television sets from soap’s to comedy, drama to factual, and whilst many of the awards are decide by an independent panel, the following 14 awards are left for you, the voting public to decide.
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It was reported before Christmas that on the day of Derek Branning’s funeral, his son Joey would break down and confess a huge secret to his sister Alice (Jasmyn Banks) and it now appears that the secret Joey’s set to spill is that he, along with several others, watched Derek die of a heart attack while doing nothing to help him!

Fans of the show will of course know that Derek – who was played by Jamie Foreman – collapsed on the street outside his brother Max’s house on Christmas Day.

As he fell to the floor clutching his chest, though Joey initially moved as though to help, he was stopped by Derek’s former lover Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) and as we saw, Joey (David Witts) Kat, Max (Jake Wood) and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) only went to Derek’s side after he’d died… Read more & comment »

2013 hasn’t got off to a very auspicious start for many Walford residents, what with the death of Derek Branning and the unexpected arrival of Max’s wife Kirsty!

And of course, Kat (Jessie Wallace) and Alfie Moon split up over Christmas, and Alfie (Shane Richie) has now embarked on a rather hasty romance with Roxy ‘Peroxide’ Mitchell (Rita Simons).

So there’s a good deal to be resolved during the New Year, and on the show’s official website, EastEnders’ producer Lorraine newman has been teasing what’s in store for our Albert Square favourites in 2013.

Here’s what she had to say… Read more & comment »

The New Year is not going to be a happy time for many of the Square’s residents, what with Max Branning’s (Jake Wood) secret well and truly out, and of course, his brother Derek’s (Jamie Foreman) funeral to attend…

However, things for Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) and Joey Branning (David Witts) will take a turn for the complicated when Joey’s ex-girlfriend Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) spots the cousins sharing a kiss!

And of course, as Joey dumped her, having told her he was in love with someone else, Lucy realizes that this isn’t a new development and that Lauren – who’s supposed to be her best friend – has betrayed her.

So she’ll vow revenge, and soon gets the chance to carry that out when Lucy confesses that it was in fact her who was driving Derek’s car the night it smashed into a shop front and burst into flames… Read more & comment »

Christmas in Walford is rarely a happy time, and this year will be no exception, particularly for the Branning family as Lauren’s (Jacqueline Jossa) drinking spirals out of control and Derek (Jamie Foreman) makes yet more enemies, any of whom could turn out to be a murderer because of course, Derek is set to die over the festive period!

And as if that wasn’t drama enough, Tanya (Jo Joyner) will learn whether her cancer has returned or not, and her recently found sister Ava Hartman (Claire Perkins) is set to make a comeback to the Square in a bid to mend some fences with her long lost family…

But first, apropos of Derek, he’s set to make an enemy of Sharon Rickman after he goes public with her secret, which is of course that she’s had – or may still have – an addiction to painkillers.

Derek will first find out about Sharon’s problem when he spots a bottle of tablets at his brother Jack’s flat. Wanting to know what they are and who they belong to, Jack (Scott Maslen) reluctantly tells Derek about Sharon’s addiction, but swears his brother to secrecy… Read more & comment »

Fans of EastEnders will know that Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) railroaded his former lover Sharon Rickman into going through with a sham engagement on the grounds that offering what would appear to be a stable home environment would help his case for custody of his granddaughter, Lexi…

However, understandably, Sharon’s real boyfriend Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) wasn’t overjoyed over it, and when she returns to Walford next week, Phil’s former fiancé Shirley Carter won’t be too chuffed either!

And in fact, it’s because of Shirley (Linda Henry) that Phil calls off the engagement to Sharon (Letitia Dean) fearing that his ex will spill the beans to social services, and if they learn he lied, that’ll be the end of his case.

The plot twist begins when Shirley – who has been staying with her daughter for a few weeks – hears about Sharon and Phil’s engagement, and about their attempts to get custody of baby Lexi… Read more & comment »

As we reported last week, after Joey and Lauren Branning’s horror car crash – which we saw in last Friday’s visit to Walford – Joey’s dad Derek is going to blackmail him, telling him that unless he does exactly what he’s told to do, he’ll go to the police and tell them the truth; namely that Lauren was driving when the crash happened, and that she’d been drinking…

So, forced to become the “dutiful son” that Derek (Jamie Foreman) has always wanted, Joey (David Witts) is horrified when his dad tells him that he has to end his relationship with cousin Lauren.

However, for as much as it hurts Joey to call off his romance with Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) he does so in order to protect her, but he doesn’t tell her the real reason – that his dad’s forcing him to ditch her – because he fears if he did, she would go and confess to the police to get Derek off their backs. And of course if she did, she could then face jail time.

But what doesn’t seem to have occurred to Joey is that it would be his and Lauren’s word against Derek’s – who has a string of criminal convictions – as to who was driving, because after the event, how could Derek prove anything?? Read more & comment »