There were heartbreaking scenes for EastEnders’ Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) as his dementia symptoms worsened on Monday.
The legendary 90s character made a surprise return to Walford at the end of last year, reuniting with best friend Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
It soon became apparent he was hiding a big secret, later confiding in Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) he’d been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
He’d been determined to keep this from Phil, but he was forced to open up about his health after Phil made a devastating suicide attempt during the BBC soap’s 40th anniversary celebrations last month.
Phil has since been spending time in a mental health facility, with Nigel left living alone at No.55 in his absence.
On Monday, emotional scenes saw Nigel forget where Phil was as he called out throughout the house for him.
It was only when Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) called over wondering if he’d received an update about Phil that Nigel’s memory kicked back in and he was forced to cover.
But later during his shift at the café, he had another episode and walked out on Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth).
Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) then bumped into him outside the pharmacy, which Nigel recalled used to be the video shop he worked at back in the 1990s and burst into tears.
Also being aware of Nigel’s diagnosis, Linda consoled him with some food in the fish and chip shop, where he opened up about the problems he was experiencing with his memory.
Linda then kindly offered to come over and cook for him and keep him company from time to time, but he politely rejected her invitation.
However, when Nigel returned home, we saw him struggling to heat up his dinner and he was left in agony after burning himself on the oven.
Will a proud Nigel let Linda in?
