Chelsea Atkins (Zaraah Abrahams) is caught in the act by evil husband Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith) as she plots to take their baby and escape the abusive marriage – will she ever be free?
Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) convinces Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) they should be a couple, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) gets life-changing news from the police and Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ) thinks he’s being cheated on.
Here are all your EastEnders spoilers for 17th – 21st January 2022.
Gray catches Chelsea trying to escape
!["EMBARGO]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/01/23898505-low_res-eastenders-january-march-2022-0a6f7bc.jpg?quality=90&crop=19px%2C13px%2C1962px%2C1307px&resize=620%2C413" "\"EMBARGO")
Chelsea panics when Gray wants to register Jordan’s birth, and tells Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) if her horrible husband is officially named as his father they’ll never escape his clutches. With help from Whit and Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol), Chels concocts a plan to sign the certificate without Gray so he has no legal rights over their son – not easy when he’s watching her every move.
Kheerat whisks Gray away to wet the baby boy’s head while Chelsea sneaks out to get a new passport as ID, because her sinister spouse has all her personal possessions safely guarded (naturally). Gray catches her arriving home and she’s forced to lie about where she’s been, arousing his suspicions. The next day Chelsea manages to duck out to surreptitiously sign the birth certificate solo but gets a nasty surprise that derails her plan… Has Gray rumbled her? And is taking sleeping pills to combat the new mum’s spiralling stress really a good idea?
Janine and Mick pose as a couple
!["EMBARGO]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/01/23912777-low_res-eastenders-january-march-2022-e6998d5.jpg?quality=90&crop=19px%2C13px%2C1962px%2C1307px&resize=620%2C413" "\"EMBARGO")
Minxy maneater Janine may not have persuaded Mick to succumb to her charms (yet) but she continues to pursue her fantasy of cosying up to Mr Carter by convincing him to pose as her partner. Surely he won’t agree to that… Surely?!
Ms Butcher is due a visit from social services to assess if she’s suitable to regain custody of Scarlett Butcher (Tabitha Byron), and needs a permanent address and proof of a stable home environment to offer her daughter. Tugging at the landlord’s heartstrings she asks if she can put the Vic down as her official dwelling, then pushes her luck by begging him to pretend they are in a loving relationship to the social worker! Softie Mick agrees, and regrets it when Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) gets the wrong idea and publicly announces the publican is having a secret fling with the floozie! Isn’t that what Janine wants everyone to think…?
Phil’s fate revealed
!["EMBARGO]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/01/23897644-low_res-eastenders-january-march-2022-86a2a6a.jpg?quality=90&crop=19px%2C10px%2C1962px%2C1307px&resize=620%2C413" "\"EMBARGO")
Phil is in deeper trouble with the police than he’s ever been (and that’s saying something) and avoiding admitting to Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) just how long a jail sentence he could be looking at now the past has caught up with him. Clue: it’s probably forever.
Putting his house in order he tells Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) he’s considering selling the Mitchell empire as he’s not sure his son can handle running the show if he ends up doing a long stretch – especially with Ben struggling in the wake of the attack. Eventually, Phil confronts nemesis DCI Keeble (Alison Newman) who tells him his fate and it’s not what he was expecting – but there’s an almighty catch…
Stuart thinks Rainie is having an affair
!["EMBARGO]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/01/23897800-low_res-eastenders-january-march-2022-7cc51c0.jpg?quality=90&crop=19px%2C0px%2C1962px%2C1307px&resize=620%2C413" "\"EMBARGO")
Stuart maintains his silence to Rainie Highway (Tanya Franks) with regards to his cancer diagnosis, despite his wife getting increasingly worried about his behaviour and Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) urging him to come clean. Remaining so stubborn while he suffers in silence starts messing with Stu’s head, and when he spies Rainie receiving a bunch of flowers from Mick in the market he convinces himself his missus is being unfaithful.
He doesn’t hear the details of their conversation, which is actually about Mick thanking Mrs H for her advice on how to cope with Linda’s destructive addiction, but the undertaker’s paranoia builds throughout the week leading to a huge misunderstanding and an emotional showdown…
Elsewhere on EastEnders
!["EMBARGO]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/01/23897553-low_res-eastenders-january-march-2022-eed7e00.jpg?quality=90&crop=19px%2C13px%2C1962px%2C1307px&resize=620%2C413" "\"EMBARGO")
- Following recent revelations about Aaron Monroe (Charlie Wernham) the clan must engage in some serious damage control. Dana Monroe (Barbara Smith) begs Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell) to say nothing of what he knows about her bad boy brother which irks him, and conflicted Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman) worries about the consequences of his son’s actions and threat to his family. Will principled Bobby stay quiet?
- Since the mother (or should that be father?) of all secrets was revealed on Christmas Day about the true identity of Rocky Cant (Brian Conley), Sonia has given her fake dad an understandably wide berth. This week there are signs of a tentative thawing in the frosty relations when they share a friendly moment in the pub, and Rocky gives her some cash by way of an apology for trying to fleece her. Is it enough for Son to forgive and forget?