The traumatised character is spiralling fast. **WARNING: Contains spoilers for upcoming scenes in EastEnders**
As he continues to take drugs as a way to numb his pain, Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) will lie to his concerned dad Phil (Steve McFadden) in upcoming EastEnders scenes.
Ben’s mother, Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), had begun a tough love approach as his volatile behaviour got worse, to the point where he went to punch her partner Rocky Cotton (Brian Conley), and ended up injuring his mum instead.
But Kathy remains desperate to get through to Ben, and in a bid to get an indifferent Phil on board, she told him that their son was raped. In the aftermath of hearing this bombshell, Phil will talk to Ben, asking him about the situation and demanding the name of his attacker. But Ben isn’t sure how to cope with his father’s probing, and tells him that Kathy got it wrong – he wasn’t raped.
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Thanks to this lie, Phil later speaks to Kathy again, insisting that Ben is absolutely fine. Come on, Phil – even a passing stranger should be able to see that Ben is in a dark place!
Of course, Kathy knows this all too well, having been through the harrowing ordeal twice over herself. She’ll also be aware that Ben will want to save face with his dad, not wanting to appear weak in Phil’s eyes. Ben has also kept husband Callum Highway (Tony Clay) in the dark over what Lewis Butler (Aidan O’Callaghan) did to him, desperate to protect the man he loves.
That’s not the only Ben-sized weight on Kathy’s mind. Ben recently confessed to business partner Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol) that he cut off Jags’s (Amar Adatia) protection in prison, which led to his death. And Kathy is shocked to find that Kheerat and Vinny (Shiv Jalota) have destroyed The Arches sign.
She panics further when Kheerat insists that he wants out of the business – telling Kathy that Ben must pay him his share in just three days, or else. Ben feels remorseful once again when he surveys the damage that has been done, but as he’s in no fit state to deal with things, Kathy asks Phil for the money to buy Kheerat out.
Phil explains that he doesn’t have the funds to do so, so Kathy decides to ask the sister of her toxic late husband Gavin Sullivan (Paul Nicholas) to release money from his estate. Rocky advises against it, but she forges ahead, while Rocky unwittingly tells Gavin’s son Zack Hudson (James Farrar) about Kathy’s plans.
How will Zack react to this news? And will Kathy’s efforts be successful? Most crucially, will she be able to help Ben, and will Phil work out that his broken son is suffering more than ever before?
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