Martin Fowler (James Bye) is the man set to lead a search for missing teen Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) in upcoming EastEnders scenes when she fails to turn up to school.
Martin and Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) have been spending time together recently, after going on a date at Peggy’s.
In upcoming scenes, they continue to flirt, but are interrupted by a text from Avani’s school.
Priya is horrified to discover that Avani is playing truant, and she and Martin waste no time in trying to find her.
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Thankfully, they manage to track her down to the playground, and soon an equally panicked Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) arrives.
Unruly teen Avani is instantly amused by Ravi blatant jealousy over Martin’s presence, and soon comes up with a plan.
Confiding in Nugget Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury), she explains that she wants Priya and Ravi to get back together.
Unfortunately for Avani, this won’t be an easy feat, as Priya has already asked Martin on another date.
However, as soon as she finds out, she contacts Ravi and feigns upset that Priya is ill, and soon he arrives at No.41.
When Martin shows up at the same time, he gets the wrong end of the stick and leaves Priya and Ravi to it.
Priya is left fuming at Avani for her interference, and later she and Ravi chastise the tearaway teen.
That doesn’t dampen Avani’s spirit, however, as she later intercepts Martin and Priya’s next date and attempts to ruin it by pouring wine in Martin’s lap.
The BBC has confirmed that more classic EastEnders episodes will be coming to BBC iPlayer next week.
The streaming service is already home to old school episodes between 2008 and 2011, with the calendar year of 2012 to be added from Tuesday (March 25).
More classic episodes will be added on the 25th of each month throughout the year, so that over 2,000 episodes from the past 16 years will be available to stream by Christmas.
Producer Chris Clenshaw has previewed the memorable moments coming to iPlayer: “We’re thrilled that BBC iPlayer are expanding their collection of EastEnders episodes so that our viewers can enjoy a look back at some of the show’s most iconic storylines as we honour its rich history and its gripping characters.
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“Viewers will be able to rewatch their favourite characters and relive their favourite moments, such as Who Killed Lucy Beale?, Peggy’s heart-breaking death, Stacey’s post-partum psychosis and Kathy’s jaw-dropping return from the dead.”
Dan McGolpin, Director of BBC iPlayer, added: “It’s fantastic to see EastEnders in such great form for 2024 and this is generating strong demand from viewers to enjoy earlier episodes on BBC iPlayer. I’m delighted that we’re able to add all of 2012 by the end of the month and we’ll have more than 2,000 episodes available by Christmas.”
The first drop of 2012 episodes will allow viewers to revisit some memorable moments from a huge year in Albert Square – such as the tragic death of iconic character Pat Butcher, the shocking murder of Heather Trott and Ben Mitchell being sent to prison.
EastEnders star James Farrar has hinted at a sad split for his character Zack Hudson and partner Whitney Dean.
Whitney is set to return to the Square next week, following the start of her exit storyline in Milton Keynes.
The special episodes saw Whitney become determined to foster troubled youngster Britney Wainwright, which didn’t go down well with Zack. As a result, he returned to Walford alone and later tried to kiss Whitney’s best friend, Lauren Branning.
“Zack feels a real sense of guilt about trying to kiss Lauren, and he still doesn’t know why that situation happened,” said Farrar.
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“I think he felt seen by Lauren because she empathised with him over the Britney situation, and there’s also a definitely physical attraction there.
“Zack has deep-rooted issues with people not showing him the love that he thinks he might deserve. Deep down, he’s worried that Whitney has chosen a different life with Britney to the one they had planned.”
The actor went on to explain Zack’s “shock” over Whitney unexpectedly arriving at The Vic with Britney, which will create a difficult atmosphere between the couple.
“There’s a lot of resentment. Zack feels like things could have been communicated better by Whitney. He can’t understand why she’s hiding things and worries there is a lack of trust between them,” he explained.
