Will it be the beginning of a new partnership?
Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) gave Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) a big ultimatum when she uncovered her secret plot in tonight’s EastEnders (Thursday 30th June).
Viewers found out that Sam was behind this week’s menacing shooting which saw her take a bullet for Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace). She had engineered the whole thing by hiring the two dodgy men, and later met with them to pay for their services.
But it was clear that, despite being handed the keys to Peggy’s nightclub by Kat, Sam was nowhere near finished with her underhanded tactics. Tonight, she feigned reluctance to take charge, pretending to be struggling after her injury.
As Shirley arrived to ‘apologise’ for her recent behaviour under son Mick’s (Danny Dyer) instructions, Sam refused to accept her words and demanded a large fee in compensation.
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But when Shirley caught up with Dotty Cotton (Milly Zero), who revealed the CCTV at the club had been turned off before she could get to it in order to help Shirley trash the place, Shirley realised what had happened afterwards was in fact an inside job.
She headed back to confront Sam, saying she had no intention of paying her damages. Shirley casually informed her that it was obvious what she was up to and demanded to know her plan. Sam denied all knowledge, but when Shirley threatened to go to Phil (Steve McFadden), Sam revealed she was out for revenge after Kat, Phil and Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) cut her out of the business.
As Sam mocked Kat, Shirley taunted her over how easy it was to get her to confess – was she really a Mitchell? It wasn’t long before Shirley’s anger returned and she lamented everything the family had done to her.
Shirley then blackmailed Sam, demanding “a piece of the Mitchell empire” if she wanted her to keep quiet. With the Carters suffering in various ways thanks to the actions of the other family, Shirley wasn’t going to let this go.
“Your family owe me – and now I’m here to collect,” she told Sam.
Will Sam agree, or find a way to get Shirley off her back? You’ll have to tune in to EastEnders next week to find out.
Due to BBC’s summer of sport, the soap is being released every Monday as a boxset on BBC iPlayer as well as airing alternately on BBC One and BBC Two.
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