Spoiler warning for the episode released on Wednesday 14th February 2024.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Wednesday 14th February’s EastEnders, which was made available on BBC iPlayer at 6am.
Warning: This article contains discussion of racist hate crimes and murder.
EastEnders has aired shocking revelations for publican George Knight (Colin Salmon) in an extended special episode on Wednesday.
The BBC One soap centred the entire episode on George discovering the truth about his origins following his recent discovery that his adoptive parents Eddie (Christopher Fairbank) and Gloria (Elizabeth Counsell) had obtained him as a toddler via “farming”.
George’s biological parents had paid the Knights to foster George to give him a better life while they improved their own in the UK. George was also told he was of Caribbean descent but learned his biological parents were Ghanaian.
Eddie had always displayed prejudiced beliefs and George made excuses for him as being “old-fashioned” and sought his father’s approval through his boxing career.
In recent weeks, Eddie sought to repair their relationship but on Monday learned a horrible truth – Eddie was only doing so to persuade George to be a character witness defending Eddie for his trial where he stands accused of racially aggravated murder.
On Tuesday, George experienced a profound recognition when he saw a photo of the man Eddie stands accused of killing and stuffing his remains in a suitcase and disposing of in a canal – Henry Kofi Asare.
After this, George called his parents and said he needed to talk with Eddie.
On Wednesday, Eddie visited the Queen Vic and George sat him down for a one-to-one talk about what happened, while George’s daughters Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna (Molly Rainford) secretly listened in.
In the honest conversation, George revealed he recalled Henry Kofi Asare and it transpires that Eddie and his friends did beat the man to death with steel-capped boots and hurled racial abuse at him. Eddie claimed it was because the man was a bad person who had committed horrible acts and he was being ‘taught a lesson’.
Eddie railed at suggestions he was a racist and said he had given George a better life but his son recalled the racism he experienced through his childhood and how Eddie had not been there for him and even made remarks participating in it.
After hearing what Eddie had done, Anna fled to the barrel store upset that her grandfather was a racist and he had done something so evil.
Gina expressed that she was less surprised and had always seen the racism from her grandfather and noted how Anna “passes” as white with lighter skin, dyed and straightened hair and clothes choices, while Gina has dealt with people objectifying her hair and body and faced more racial abuse.
Anna gets emotional as she realises the different standards and prejudices that Gina has been met with, but feels rejected by Gina and upset that she hid these resentments from her for years.
Upstairs, Gloria sat down with George’s fiancée Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) as she explained her history with adopting George amid fertility struggles, revealing that she always remained firm with Eddie and that she would never lose George even if they had a biological child.
Downstairs, in an emotional conversation, George reveals all he ever wanted was Eddie’s love and then holds his father’s hand and asks him to own his mistakes.
After a few seconds, Eddie shouts at George: “Get your filthy hands off me!”
Gloria hears glass smash downstairs and races down as the confrontation between George and Eddie turns nastier, with George pushing his father to admit that his racism caused him to kill Henry Kofi Asare.
“He did it because I love you… because I didn’t want to say goodbye,” revealed Gloria to stop the fighting, against Eddie’s wishes, before adding: “I couldn’t let you go, it was my fault.”
As George pushed for Gloria to explain further, Eddie tried to make his wife leave until she revealed: “He wanted to take you back with him.”
The truth is then revealed as Gloria can’t lie any more: Henry Kofi Asare was George’s biological father and Eddie murdered him after Gloria begged her husband to stop her losing George.
As Gloria begged for her son’s forgiveness, George grappled with the horrific truth of what happened to his biological father.
In tomorrow’s episode, George will remain in turmoil over what he has learned and worries about his behaviour after he gets angry in a training session with Denzel Danes (Jaden Ladega).
In a bid to find more answers, Elaine agrees to help Gloria speak to George – but will he ever be able to forgive his mother for her lies?
If you have been affected by the issues in this article surrounding racism and hate crime, please visit the website Stop Hate UK for independent and confidential support to people affected by hate crime, including confidential hate crime reporting services in various parts of the UK. For more support, see BBC Action Line.
Read more:
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- Linda Robson reveals talk with EastEnders producer about joining soap
- EastEnders’ Charlie Suff on ‘new’ Johnny Carter: “He’s all grown up and not to be messed with”
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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