Grieving Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) was left seething in Tuesday’s EastEnders after a good deed from Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman) massively backfired.
Stacey and her kids have been struggling to cope with the loss of their dad Martin Fowler (James Bye), who d.i.e.d in the aftermath of the Queen Vic explosion last month.
While Harvey had been feeling pushed out by the Slaters as they grieved, he was pleased to be able to help Lily (Lillia Turner) when she was unable to soothe baby daughter Charli earlier this week.
With Harvey having used an old football shirt of Martin’s to help the youngster get to sleep, on Tuesday, he took it upon himself to have it made into a blanket.
The only problem was that, unbeknownst to him, the family had chosen for Martin to be wearing the shirt when he is buried after a request from his young son Arthur.
Upon receiving the gift from a well-meaning Harvey, Lily realised his grave mistake but did not tell him.
However, the truth came out when Stacey was later looking for the shirt to give to Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton), who had offered to pass it to the undertakers.
As Stacey ransacked the house trying to find it, Lily was forced to confess to her mum what Harvey had done.
‘There’s nothing we can do about it now, so don’t you think it might be a nice idea to hold onto it, have it with us, something to remember him by?’ Lily said.
‘Oh what, ‘cos we’re going to forget him if we ain’t got it?’ Stacey fumed as she stormed out of the house.
While we are yet to see how Harvey finds out about his mistake, his isolation from the rest of the family will only increase over the coming days.
Spoilers for next week have revealed that when his partner Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) pushes him out again, he seeks comfort in the arms of Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth)…
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One or stream first from 6am on iPlayer.
