Lauren ruins her own birthday!

Lauren ruins her own birthday!
Lauren ruins her own birthday! (Image credit: Colin Hutton)

Tanya organises a big family lunch for Lauren's 18th birthday. As Tanya sets about baking a celebration cake, Lauren is downing the booze with her mates in the pub. Cora is furious when Lauren is late for the lunch. She soon works out where Lauren is and drags her drunk granddaughter home. Tanya and Max are horrified by the state Lauren is in, as Lauren ruins the cake and then throws up! Denise asks Patrick if she can hear the wedding speech he wrote for Heather. Patrick tries to read the speech, but is overcome with emotion. Denise suggests Patrick spend some time away from Walford with his son Anthony. Meanwhile, Rose is chuffed that Andrew has been released. A grief-stricken Dot tells Rose and Andrew she wants them to move out. Jean has organised an 80s-themed night in memory of Heather. Shirley accuses everyone of laughing at Heather. Shirley and Mandy have a set to when Shirley turns the music down. Mandy accuses Ian of not standing up for her. Ian blurts out that Mandy's mum told him that he's 'the latest in a long line of mugs'. Ian later gets home to find Mandy's engagement ring on the table, with Mandy nowhere to be seen.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.