Ben Mitchell's (Max Bowden) exit storyline may have been teased in EastEnders as he vows to help Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff) get rid of Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) forever from the Square — but could there be foul play involved in a murderous twist?
Johnny returned to Walford from Manchester last week, only to find his dishevelled mum Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) collapsed on the street, drunk.
Linda has been spiralling ever since she murdered Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) on Christmas Day to stop him from killing her best friend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean).
The two women, alongside Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) then buried his body underneath the floor of the café.
In upcoming scenes, Johnny is horrified to learn that his mum has hit the bottle again because her rapist Dean is back on the Square and has been terrorising her since his arrival.
The furious solicitor storms over to Beale's Eels to confront Dean, but is soon dragged away by Ben, who takes Johnny for a drink with him and husband Callum Highway (Tony Clay) in a bid to calm him down.
After Johnny lashes out at Gina Knight (Francesca Henry) for laughing at Linda for dropping her birthday cake in front of everyone at the Vic, Ben and Callum are shocked by the strength of Johnny's ferocious anger.
Wanting to help his friend, Ben promises Johnny he'll help get rid of Dean for good and assures policeman Callum it will all be above board and legal. But is he telling the truth?
Given Ben's past, we know that the Mitchells aren't ones to be messed with, with their enemies often found in a very bad way once they've got their hands on them.
And with Ben set to leave Walford later this year, could he be sent to prison for killing Dean? Or could he even do a runner and disappear from the Square to escape his crimes?
EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now.
