EastEnders boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins has spoken about the even darker future that is to come for Walford's Carter family.
The new pub owners have become an integral part of the soap since arriving on Albert Square at Christmas, and executive producer Dominic says their storylines are not set to slow down any time soon.
He told Inside Soap that Shirley and Tina's mother, who walked out on the family years ago, was about to make her EastEnders entrance because, although her ex-husband Stan (Timothy West) has lost contact with her, Aunt Babe (Annette Badland) is secretly still in touch with her.
Dominic said: "We are on the brink of casting Sylvie now and she will change the Carter family dynamic yet again. She brings with her some meaty stuff for Shirley and Mick, but mostly Stan. Timothy West is a brilliant actor, and he's not vain.
"In fact, he has come up to me to complain that Stan is too nice and he wants to make him more unpleasant."
The EastEnders boss continued: "When we announced the characters, we deliberately said Aunt Babe was lovely and Stan was dark and then we twisted it around and turned it on its head. We have now seen a darker side to Aunt Babe and there is more to come.
"All I can say is, it'll all come out at the worst possible time. It is going to get messy for the Carters, especially after Dean rapes Linda."
Dominic said of the upcoming storyline which sees Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) rape Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), who he believes is his aunt but is actually his sister-in-law: "It's a difficult story to cover, but it's a very important issue to tackle and this story has the potential to make a real difference to people's lives."
