Ian Beale, the indestructible verruca on the foot of EastEnders, will be seen making a return to Albert Square as a bloody tramp in episodes to be screened very soon.

He has been absent from Walford since last month when he was jilted at the altar, and tabloid rumours speculating that he would return as a homeless man have been confirmed.

With long hair, a beard and… quite a nice polo shirt, actually; it is assumed that he has spent the last few weeks living on the street dealing with his mental breakdown.

Show bosses worked with various mental health experts and charities when working on the scenes that saw him begin to lose grip on reality whilst struggling to deal with the break-up of his finances and his family. He will be seen making his return in the next few weeks.

Okay, so Alfie’s not in favour with Derek or Phil on EastEnders, but it looks like he’s having more luck with the women of Albert Square!

Alfie’s not really one for taking hints, and in a somewhat awkward moment on Thursday Roxy was finally forced to declare her love for him. Although the tension between Alfie and Roxy has been building pretty much since they met, when Roxy spelled it out for him he looked shocked, to say the least.

Unfortunately, Derek was quicker to catch on, and sent Alfie on an “errand” to test Roxy’s reaction. She fell straight into his trap, showing her true feelings by running frantically round the square in search of him. To be fair, it did look like Alfie had been driven to his death, until he returned with a bag of laundry…

On Friday Alfie basically implied that he would be with Roxy, if it was a mere choice between her and Kat, and children and accommodation weren’t involved. (Flattering to both women, I’m sure.) So it looks like Jessie Wallace’s love life isn’t going too well off screen or on; Wallace recently called off her wedding when her fiancé was caught sending explicit text messages to another woman. I have to say I would usually be on Kat’s side in the Roxy debacle, but recently Kat has treated Alfie so badly that it makes this a little more complicated.

But wasn’t Roxy only just going after Max? And, it would be a shame to ruin Kat and Alfie’s iconic relationship, and one of the only fairy tale Eastenders endings in existence…

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Billy’s never had much luck in EastEnders, and neither have Walford police (though at least now they’re in the right family… getting warmer…).

Not only was he unfairly arrested for Heather’s murder, he was subjected to some pretty harsh insults. My personal favourite was, “you tick every box on the loser’s profile.” What a professional police force they have down on Albert Square.  Finally Mandy gave Billy his alibi, (coming dangerously close to revealing the identity of her latest mystery man), and eventually they let him go.

Shirley’s finally decided it wasn’t Andrew, and on Friday’s episode they teamed up to find the true killer. Shirley was left wondering why her rallying got such a lacklustre response from Phil, Ben and Jay… But both she and the police are running out of suspects, and it seems like only a matter of time until they close in on Ben. After his breakdown at Heather’s funeral, and his failure to dispose of the murder weapon, Ben isn’t doing a great job of covering his tracks.

Billy’s arrest also had serious repercussions for Alfie. Convinced that Billy was going to “shoot his mouth off,” Derek persuaded Alfie to plant dodgy gear in the Arches, so that whatever information Billy gave to the police it would look like he was covering for Phil. Of course, Alfie was caught and confronted, and ended up telling Phil everything about how he and Billy had cheated Derek. Unable to resist a boost of his male pride, Phil then told Derek. Now poor Alfie isn’t exactly popular with either of the two biggest bullies in the history of Eastenders…

Mandy Salter will leave Walford on her wedding day to Ian Beale, as actress Nicola Stapleton leaves EastEnders.

Stapleton returned to the show last year after a 17-year absence, and will shoot her final scenes this summer. It’s not known at the moment whether or not the wedding will go ahead before she does a runner.

She said in a statement: “I’ve had a great time at EastEnders, working with friends old and new. Who knows whether Mandy will return? Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 17 years!”

A Walford source added to Digital Spy: “EastEnders bosses kept Nicola on for longer than expected as they are building up to a big storyline for Ian.”

Mandy’s relationship with Ian hasn’t exactly been the smoothest of romances, and viewers have recently been seeing his daughter Lucy trying desperately to keep them split up.

Are you sad to see Mandy leave again?

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It’s all over for Ben Mitchell in EastEnders this week, as Friday’s episode saw Ian turn him in to the police. (I have to admit, I never thought Ian would be one to do Phil any favours…)

It looks like Phil will have to be released,  and I definitely wouldn’t want to be in Ben’s shoes when he is!

At least with her “old man” back Shirley might stop being such a control freak and let poor Heather live her life! With Phil being inside, Shirl seems to have got a bit desperate, giving Heather pictures in “Best Friend” frames and trying frantically to make Andrew punch her in the face. (He didn’t, but I might have been tempted…)

Of course, Heather’s hen night went off in true Eastenders style. Her future mother-in-law got kicked out of the club for drunken table dancing, then went home and put on Heather’s wedding dress (perfectly normal), oh and she also found out her future husband committed GBH… Although, my personal favourite moment of the evening had to be Dot trying to give a speech in the R&R. “Good manners cost nothing young man!” Oh Dot.

And in other news, who was that man following Mandy…? (Place your bets?)

This week’s EastEnders brought a new arrival to Albert Square, sadly not in the form of a “fit bloke”, but actually Mandy’s mother Lorraine Salter, played by Victoria Alcock.

Although, she’s not exactly a fresh character; Lorraine first appeared on the show over twenty years ago, played by Linda Henry. Since returning she has quickly caused chaos, using her daughter’s “catch” of a fiancé (her words, not mine) to manoeuvre her way into Mandy’s life. (It doesn’t exactly seem like a Gilmore Girls relationship). At least for now her  scheming has put Lucy’s to an end!

She’s not the only one with an agenda; Friday’s episode ended with the reunion of Michael and Janine, a somewhat suspicious turn of events. Janine arrived at the Gherkin expecting an exciting business proposal, not a marriage proposal from someone who’d just dumped her. The scene was slightly surreal; with the sunset, the view of London and the inspirational music combined with two of the least romantic characters in soap history.

I was just beginning to change my mind, and believe that maybe Janine and Michael had found true love…when Janine asked Michael to sign a prenup, and there’s no other way to put it: he looked pissed off. Was he just marrying her for the money…?

This week’s EastEnders has been an interesting journey for Roxy Mitchell and Jack Branning.

Jack started off the week by casually defrauding Roxy, then they slept together and continued like a pair of lovesick teenagers, and ended the week in a mud-slinging custody battle over little daughter Amy.  (Those who reside in Albert Square are always quick to do the nasty… and quick to turn nasty).

When Roxy found out that Jack forged her signature on a passport application, Jack was forced to drop the case, and Roxy triumphed by default.

To say the least, this news didn’t go down well with the other Brannings, and for a while it seemed like Jack might do a runner in classic EastEnders style. However, after a quick heart-to-heart in the kitchen with Roxy he handed over Amy with relatively good will.

Could it possibly be a case of first comes baby, then marriage to your sister, then love…?

Chloe Seager

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, Friday’s episode saw the departure of one of Albert Square’s most loved characters, Jane Beale, after almost eight years on the show.

Jane first appeared in EastEnders selling candy floss at a funfair, and ended up marrying Ian after the death of her first husband from Huntingdon’s disease.  Jane has had many a great moment on the show (the highlight being her affair with Grant Mitchell) and many a traumatic one (such as the loss of her ability to have children, and just generally being married to Ian, really…)

It was an emotional episode, full of heartfelt goodbyes from all of the Beale family. Jane even made her peace with Masood (under the watchful eye of Zainab, of course). And after a fall out, Tanya eventually came to her senses and the pair ran to each other’s arms, separating in a romantic embrace. Jane’s last line was “I can be anyone I want to be!” as she drove away into the night, which was an uplifting ending for the “Plain Jane” of Walford (and unusually optimistic for Eastenders writers…)

However, we might not have seen the last of Jane, as it is rumoured that though Laurie Brett quit to spend time with her new baby, she is leaving her options open.

Would you like to see her back?

EastEnders aired an emotionally charged farewell to long-serving legend Pat Butcher tonight, as Pam St Clement’s last scenes as the battleaxe were finally aired. Even Cheryl Cole tweeted that she cried.

St Clement delivered a brilliant performance, and kudos also to Strictly Come Dancing‘s Christmas champion Charlie Brooks (Janine), whose scene with Pat was perhaps the most tear-jerking of the lot. Jo Joyner (Tanya) was also brilliant, as the fear of her own cancer took over her when she visited her ailing neighbour.

Pam had told The Sun: “They didn’t just want me to say ta-ta and get on the No 30 bus because that wouldn’t do me justice. They wanted something dramatic, a fitting tribute to the character.”

She’d also told Digital Spy about the exit storyline: ”It’s something quite brave for EastEnders. It’s intensive, it’s very concentrated, and sometimes we tend to concentrate on the big, the events, the things that happen, the big geography and the big emotions – and we don’t sort of go inwards as much as we used to in the early days.”

Here’s a reminder of tonight’s happenings: