EastEnders spoilers: Sinister mystery as George Knight comes home covered in blood – and Phil Mitchell covers for him

This article contains spoilers from Thursday’s (March 14) EastEnders, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

George Knight (Colin Salmon) left his family concerned when he disappeared after some bad news in recent EastEnders scenes, but his return didn’t do much to settle their nerves.

The pub landlord recently learnt that his biological mother had died just four months ago after receiving a visit from one of her friends.

After learning that his adopted dad Eddie (Christopher Fairbank) had murdered his biological father, George started trying to find the rest of his birth family, so the news that his mother had died obviously hit him hard.

Following the revelation, George left the pub, and still hadn’t returned the next morning, much to the horror of Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) and his daughters, Anna and Gina Knight (Molly Rainford and Francesca Henry).

George’s family were determined to find him, and asked everyone they could think of if they had seen him, including George’s ex-wife Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) and his business partner Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).

Though Phil informed Gina that he hadn’t seen him, it soon became clear that he was covering for George, who later thanked him for not giving away where he was.

Phil revealed that he didn’t mind picking him up from the middle of nowhere, but wasn’t a fan of lying to Gina, and tried to find out exactly what had happened, though George remained tight lipped.

After getting cleaned up, George headed home, where his family worried that he may have lashed out at Eddie.

As George walked in on the conversation, he assured them that he hadn’t done, though the bloody bandage wrapped around his knuckles didn’t escape their notice.

After revealing to his family that he had two brothers, he explained that he didn’t want to find them, as he had all the family he needed in the Queen Vic.

However, it was clear he hadn’t told them the truth about where he had been the previous night, as he revealed when Phil asked.

Phil was quick to point out that he had lost Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) because he had kept secrets from her, and warned George to tell Elaine where he had been before she found out herself, though George insisted that she wouldn’t.But where did George go, and what is he hiding?

EastEnders star Tameka Empson couldn’t help but smile as she discussed working with Phil Mitchell star Steve McFadden, revealing that she ‘makes him blush all the time’.

The actress, who plays Kim Fox on the BBC One soap, reflected on her 15 years in Walford thus far and confirmed that the now iconic moment in which Phil delivered her character’s baby is a personal highlight.

‘Do me a favour – we couldn’t stop laughing that day!,’ she told Metro.co.uk in an exclusive chat. ‘I think people think Steve is a very straight guy, do you know what I mean? But I make him blush all the time.

‘I don’t know, maybe he likes me, maybe he fancies me,’ laughed Tameka, ‘there’s something going on.’

Could she be any more iconic?

The answer is yes as, when asked if she was upset about not being a part of The Six story, which saw six of Walford’s most iconic women including Kim’s sister Denise Fox, cover up a murder, Tameka said: ‘Well, let me tell you, they said, “Six”, I said, “Seven?” And they said, “No” and I said, “OK.”

Tameka, 46, was full of praise for the BBC One soap’s critically acclaimed festive offering, telling us that she was ‘hooked’ as she branded the episode ‘brilliant.’

‘But where does it go from here?,’ she pondered, and that really is the question, with the six women in question doing everything they can to keep their crime a secret.

With Kim currently off on a cruise, Tameka has taken some time away from EastEnders to star in a revival of The Big Life.