Walford’s finest have gathered to support Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) in EastEnders.
As viewers of the BBC One soap know, Nige is living with a young-onset dementia diagnosis.
Earlier this week, he made the decision to decision to leave Walford, after best pal and housemate Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) had learned of his plan to take his own life, should his memory worsen.
This came as a result of an explosive outburst he made at Easter, branding Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman) a paedophile and accusing him of taking his adoptive daughter Clare.
The child he was referring to was in fact Hope Fowler.
After an explosive row with Phil, Nigel packed his bags. A short time later, Phil discovered that, Nigel was missing.
In shocking scenes, a group of youths targeted ailing Nige, knocking him to the ground and leaving him to d.i.e.
After Phil and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) formed a search effort, they tracked him down to the hospital.
The men continued to bicker, with Phil convinced that having Nigel sectioned under the mental health act would be the best way to combat his suicidal thoughts.
However, once home, a huge sacrifice was made.
Phil agreed to be Nigel’s full time carer – until the end. Nigel was blown away by such a big gesture, and told his friend that it was too much to ask, but Phil wouldn’t take no for an answer.
In tonight’s episode, Nige was overwhelmed to see that the Walford hard man had spent the morning undertaking extensive research into living someone with dementia.
He’d even cut Nigel’s toast into tiny pieces – something which didn’t go down very well.
Phil also took it upon himself to tell Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) that Nigel wouldn’t be able to work at the cafe moving forward. This was effectively stripping him of any remaining independence.
Nigel became distressed at how overbearing Phil was, but didn’t want to cause any further upset.
Across the road, Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) had made some biscuits for him, and Harvey asked to deliver them so that he could apologise for the outburst during Nigel’s moment of confusion.
However, when Harvey arrived at his door, Nigel had no recollection of the incident and became more upset knowing that he’d forgotten.
Later, after another difficult conversation, Phil apologised for his approach and said he would let Nigel take the lead in how his care plan will work.
Will Phil be able to keep to Nigel’s requests?
