EastEnders has revealed another big secret Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) has been keeping since returning to Walford, after it was revealed he is living with young onset dementia.
The 90s character staged a comeback just before Christmas and has since moved in with long-lost friend Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
Since then, It had become clear Nigel was hiding something, dodging calls from wife Julie asking where he is, despite telling people they had split up.
However, he opened up about his diagnosis to Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) at the end of Wednesday’s episode.
Their heart-to-heart continued in the latest instalment of the BBC soap, as Nigel told Yolande that Julie had no idea about his dementia. He revealed that when he was diagnosed around a year ago, he walked out on her with no explanation.
Explaining to Yolande that doctors didn’t know how quickly his symptoms would develop, he heartbreakingly said he’d wanted to protect Julie to stop her from having to watch him lose his memory.
After Yolande encouraged him to be honest with Julie, Nigel walked out of the laundrette, but she later tracked him down at Reiss Colwell’s (Jonny Freeman) house, having bonded with him over their mutual connection to the late Dot Branning (June Brown).
Speaking with Nigel again, Yolande realised he planned to die homeless and alone, so she channelled Dot and quoted a bible passage and told him to live for now.
Realising his beloved friend Dot would also tell him to be brave, Nigel headed back to Phil’s.
However, he was unable to share his health news after finding a depressed Phil in a tearful state.
Telling Nigel that his friendship had stopped him from having a relapse with alcohol, Phil insisted he must take his share of The Boxing Den as a thank you, to which Nigel reluctantly agreed.
But will Nigel find the strength to open up?
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One or stream first from 6am on iPlayer.
