Ross Marshall (Alex Walkinshaw) receives some big news about his ex-partner in EastEnders next week.
Alongside son Joel (Max Murray) and partner Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig), the trio came to Walford for her uncle Martin’s (James Bye) funeral.
It soon transpired that they couldn’t return to their home in Australia, as Joel had upskirted a pupil in his class, and Ross had paid her family $50,000 in exchange for their silence.
He’s since enacted havoc on the residents of Albert Square, impregnating Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) and introducing new mate Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) to dangerous adult content online.
Later, Joel showed Tommy videos made by a disgusting influencer, who degrades women.
Joel thought this was an appropriate way to talk about the opposite sex, branding his own mum a ‘slapper’, talking about how she abandoned him as a child.
Fans of the BBC One soap then began to question whether his estranged mum was none other than returnee Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), which was only fuelled further when he told Vicki that she ‘ain’t his mother’, echoing Zoe’s words two decades earlier.
Unfortunately, judging by upcoming scenes, that theory seems to be dead in the water.
Next week, Ross takes Joel and Tommy to work at the timber yard on Turpin Road, hoping it will keep them out of bother during the school holidays. However, he soon becomes concerned for their welfare when he overhears some of the language used by his colleagues.
Returning home at the end of the day, he’s shocked to receive a call from his ex – Joel’s mum – who has revealed she’s getting remarried.
The incident seems to cause Joel’s behaviour to spiral, as he heads over to The Vic to hang out with Tommy and to steal some booze from the barrel store.
The lads are quickly caught in the act, and as Ross and Tommy’s adoptive dad Alfie (Shane Richie) rile at them for their behaviour, Joel kicks off and dishes out some disgusting comments to landlady Kat (Jessie Wallace).
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It seems he’s back to square one with his shocking behaviour, with Ross and Vicki at a loose end with how to control him. The situation only worsens when something is discovered on the teen’s laptop.
Ross, full of anger and confusion, destroys the device. Vicki is gobsmacked when she discovers the reason why it was smashed, and orders her boyfriend to be firm with his son before he makes his next move.
