Ricky Mitchell Junior (Frankie Day) set off to the police station with dad Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) in tonight’s EastEnders (25th January), as he prepared to be questioned over recent events.
With 12-year-old Lily Slater (Lillia Turner) now pregnant after having underage sex with Ricky, who is the same age, Jack has hit the roof over the shocking news. When he learned the truth earlier this week, Jack raged at Lily’s mum Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), convinced that Lily had influenced his son.
Stacey was furious, and Jack’s civil partner Denise Fox (Diane Parish) tried to diffuse the tension. Ricky’s mother, Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) tried to offer support, but when Ricky Jr asked her if she would cancel her plans to move to Germany with Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen) to stay with him, Sam faltered, and left him upset when she explained that she still intended to go.
Meanwhile, Lily’s pregnant aunt Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) seemed to be the last of the family to find out what was going on, as Stacey and Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) finally let her in on the news.
Whitney was stunned, and she put her foot in it with Lily when she joked that when one is pregnant, they become public property. As Whit pointed out the differences between their situations, Lily fled the room, fed up.
Later, Whitney spoke with Jack and family about Lily and Ricky, but she was furious when he continued to badmouth poor Lily and all of the Slaters, as well as condemning Lily’s choice to keep the baby. A dismayed Denise then told Jack that she didn’t know who this man was, but he certainly wasn’t her husband.
When Jack learned that the police needed to speak to Ricky Jr that day, he continued to vent his frustration as he told Denise and Sam that their son may be charged with statutory rape. The youngster overheard, and was left terrified.
Jack only managed to calm down when it was almost time to leave, as he spotted Ricky sitting on the stairs looking glum. In a rare moment of warmth, Jack opened up about the fact that as a police detective, he could handle anything – EastEnders history would rate this as somewhat debatable, but let’s not digress!
While he considered himself a great officer, Jack knew he needed to do better as a dad, as he referenced the fact that both of his children had been in pain. As Sam watched nearby, father and son left for the police station.
Will Ricky Jr face punishment over Lily’s pregnancy?
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