In next week’s episodes of EastEnders, Lauren Branning’s struggles with booze reach a dramatic climax when not only does she steal from her own grandmother to fund her drinking, but in a booze fuelled rage, she also lashes out at Lucy Beale, and is arrested!

The drama begins on Monday, May 27 when, fed up of Lauren’s drinking, her mum Tanya (Jo Joyner) decides enough is enough and so asks Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Kirsty Branning (Kierston Wareing) not to sell Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) any alcohol… Read more & comment »

Fans of EastEnders will know that Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) has been trying to make a business comeback now that he’s fully recovered from the breakdown he had last year.

However, his daughter Lucy (Hetti Bywater) has repeatedly told her father that she thinks it’s too soon for him to be embarking on new ventures, and when he persisted with his plan to open a new restaurant, she became increasingly angry…

So when she finds out that Ian has persuaded Janine Moon (Charlie Brooks) to back him in his plan to convert the old Emporium into an up-market eatery, she makes it very clear that she has no doubt it’s going to fail. Read more & comment »

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 »

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 »

Fans of EastEnders will probably recall that the role of spoilt brat and teen tear away Lucy Beale was formerly played by Melissa Suffield, however, after she was axed from the show for alleged misconduct, the role was taken over by Hetti Bywater, who is of course still playing the troubled teen.

However, what we viewers didn’t know during the time that Melissa was playing Lucy is that she was enduring hell on a daily basis at the hands of gang of bullies who, Melissa believes, targeted her because of her role.

While speaking to the Daily Mirror, Melissa, who’s now 20 years old, explained, “I was relentlessly bullied by a group of girls – it was systematic, grim and really nasty… Read more & comment »

The lives of the Albert Square residents are, as ever, in turmoil, but for Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) a shocking discovery could see her facing a fight for life!

The drama begins in the episode that airs on Monday 4th February when Denise Fox (Diane Parish) notices that Lucy seems upset and distracted.

After some gentle pushing, Lucy confesses to Denise that she’s found a lump in her breast, and is of course terrified that she could have cancer.

Shocked, Denise reassures the teenager that it’s probably nothing, but she tells her she must go and see her GP as soon as possible… 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 »

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 »

EastEnders star Hetti Bywater has revealed that she sometimes gets into trouble while filming for the show, because she bursts into tears at times when it’s not scripted for her character Lucy Beale to be crying.

And apparently, she’s most prone to crying while filming with her co-star Adam Woodyatt, who plays Lucy’s dad Ian Beale.

Speaking to TV Biz, Hetti said, “Adam is amazing. He can turn on the tears so quickly that I find it hard not to cry in scenes with him.

“In one scene I filmed recently I wasn’t supposed to be crying and I just burst into tears. The team had a word with me about it but luckily it worked out OK.

“Another time Lucy was supposed to tell Ian to ‘drop dead’ during a fight and I started crying because I just didn’t want to say the words to him… Read more & comment »

The long awaited return of Ian Beale is finally happening in tonight’s EastEnders, and what a return it is set to be!

Ian (Adam Woodyatt) vanished from Albert Square a few months ago after his wedding to Mandy was cancelled at the last minute, leaving his daughter, Lucy (Hetti Bywater) to keep all the businesses and bills a float, as well as looking after her young brother whilst trying to fend off social services by pretending her father was staying with relatives.
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As we reported earlier, David Witts is about to make his debut appearance on EastEnders, and he’s going to prove that the old adage that states ‘like father like son’ applies to his character Joey Branning, who is of course the son of Derek Branning, who’s played by Jamie Foreman.

However, though Joey’s intentions are originally only to make his sister Alice (Jasmyn Banks) distance herself from their career criminal dad, after he meets Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) a romance is set to begin.

And today’s TV Biz describes the relationship that’s to ensue between Joey and Lucy as one of the “hottest” Albert Square has ever seen.

The paper adds that the show’s bosses are hoping the new romance will have viewers as enthralled as the love affair between Sharon Watts and Grant Mitchell did… Read more & comment »

17 year old Hetti Bywater – who of course plays troubled teen Lucy Beale in EastEnders – is reportedly “horrified” that teenagers with eating disorders see her as a role model.

Hetti is of course a very slim young lady, and according to The Sun, on forums dedicated to unhealthy approaches to weight loss, Hetti is seen as “thinspiration”.

The paper quotes one teenager on forum anaprincess as saying, “I think the new Lucy is great thinspo, I love her skinny legs especially!”

Another wrote, “I love her arms and backbones! Her legs are skinny but I’d prefer slightly smaller.”

In response to the news that teens who have eating disorders were idolizing Hetti’s thin frame, a spokeswoman for the actress said, “Hetti is horrified her image is used this way…” Read more & comment »

As we have all watched over the last week or so, the cover up of Heather Trott’s murder  is starting to unravel in EastEnders, leaving us all just waiting for the truth to be revealed, but could the Mitchell’s have one more trick up their sleeves?

So far, since Killing Heather, we have seen murderer Ben Mitchell (Joshua Pascoe) enlist the help of father Phil (Steve McFadden) to help cover up his dastardly deed, whilst Jay Mitchell (Jamie Borthwick) shook close to breaking point in the background!

However, despite his calculated steps to keep the truth from coming out, including breaking his dad and Shirley (Linda Henry), Heather’s best friend, up, it was Ben himself who spilled the beans, to half-brother Ian (Adam Woodyatt).
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News from Walford way today begins with Hetti Bywater – who of course took over the role of Lucy Beale from Melissa Suffield – who’s revealed that she’d love to work with Thomas Law, who has formerly played the role of Lucy’s twin, Peter.

Speaking to Inside Soap, Hetti said, “I’d like Thomas Law to come back to EastEnders. I haven’t met him, but I’ve heard he’s very nice.

“I thought his portrayal of Peter was really good when I used to watch the show with him in it.”

Thomas played the role of Peter from 2006 until late 2010 when the character left home, furious with his dad Ian (Adam Woodyatt) for having had an affair with Glenda Mitchell (Glynis Barber)… Read more & comment »

News from Walford way today includes the revelation that soon to be departing EastEnder, Cheryl Fergison, has told Inside Soap magazine that she’d love a role on Downton Abbey.

And in forthcoming episodes, we’re going to see that teen troublemaker Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) is doing her best to thwart her dad Ian’s marriage to Mandy Salter. More on that in a moment…

But first, Cheryl – who of course plays Heather Trott – who told the magazine,
“I’d really love to be in Downton Abbey. Before I got EastEnders I used to do lots of ‘under stairs’ roles…

“But perhaps I could go upstairs this time and prance around a bit. I’d love to do all that.”

And of leaving the show – Heather is of course set to be murdered by Ben Mitchell – Cheryl said, “I’ve loved being here and every minute of playing Heather… Read more & comment »