
EastEnders' Elaine makes a reckless move that will cost her and Linda dearly
Elaine Peacock's (Harriet Thorpe) world is in turmoil in EastEnders next week, which results in her making a reckless move that could cost her and daughter Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) dearly.
Queen Vic co-owner Elaine left fans of the BBC soap stunned when she cheated on her husband George Knight (Colin Salmon) in shock scenes earlier this week.
Elaine fell into the arms of a man named Stephen as her jealousy of George's connection to his ex-wife Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) reached boiling point after he helped her out with The Albert relaunch.
On Thursday, George was reeling after finding out about Elaine's betrayal, and with the future of their marriage up in the air, Elaine starts behaving erratically next week.
Things start to get messy as she enjoys some drinks with Kim Fox (Tameka Empson), Mo Harris (Laila Morse), Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan-Levy), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) and Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter), and Elaine shocks Linda by declaring the prosecco is on the house all night.
When Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) pops in for a drink, he notices how much Linda is struggling having to do the lion's share of the work at the Vic amid her mum's turmoil and steps in to help behind the bar.
Later, a tipsy Elaine offers to book Priya a singles cruise, telling her that she can pay her back later. Linda is then horrified when she sees how her mum has taken £5k out of the business account to pay for it – but when she confronts Elaine, she shuts her down.
The following morning, Elaine is viciously hungover and refuses to engage with Linda, who is still reeling at her decision to book Priya on the cruise.
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As his concerns for friend Linda grow, Phil decides to confront Elaine for treating her daughter so thoughtlessly, given that she is so freshly out of rehab for her alcohol addiction. More Trending
However, when Elaine tries to talk to Linda, she continues to downplay her true feelings of overwhelm.
Could Elaine's behaviour cause an overwhelmed Linda to relapse? And does her decision to give Priya the money have anything to do with rumours that Elaine and Linda's time as co-landladys of The Vic is coming to an end?
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EastEnders airs these scenes from Monday 16 June at 7.30pm on BBC One or stream first from 6am on iPlayer.
MORE: All EastEnders spoilers for next week as Phil rages at Walford resident
MORE: EastEnders 'confirms' new Queen Vic landlady – and it's unexpected
MORE: Major EastEnders couple ripped apart in early iPlayer twist as fan-favourite confesses to cheating

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The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Listen as BBC presenter swears live on air whilst in ‘agony'
Listen to the moment a BBC radio presenter drops the F-bomb whilst live on air, with the star issuing an apology just moments later. Ian Skye was on BBC Radio Derby on Friday (13 June) when he suddenly screamed 'ahh, f***ing hell!', just seconds after telling listeners to message in if they had any requests. After realising his expletive outburst was heard to the public, he joked: 'I went on a course yesterday to learn how to be better on the radio.' "I don't think they suggested suddenly getting unbearably agonising cramp and shouting really loud on the air.' He went on to 'profusely apologise' for the incident which occurred just as the show's jingle began playing.


Telegraph
32 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Ministers pushed TV bosses to include pro-vaccine ‘propaganda' in soaps
Ministers met with TV bosses during the pandemic to persuade them to push pro-vaccine storylines in soaps such as EastEnders and Coronation Street, it has emerged. Freedom of information (FoI) requests reveal that officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) secretly met with ITV, the BBC and Channel 4, among others, calling for 'national unity programming'. Critics described the meetings as 'brazen state interference', while Sir David Davis, the former Brexit secretary who fought against vaccine mandates, said it amounted to ' underhanded propaganda ' by the government. 'What this demonstrates is that during Covid, the government reduced the broadcasters to mere arms of the state,' he said. 'Of course, it was important to tell the public about the efficacy and safety of vaccines, but the state should never resort to underhanded propaganda of this nature.' Heavily redacted documents show that as early as February 2 2020 – more than a month before the first lockdown – DCMS met with Dame Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of ITV, to 'test the possibility' of pro-vaccine messaging. A briefing note shows that the Department of Health wanted to write to broadcasters asking them to 'include vaccine storylines in their soaps', but DCMS considered a letter inappropriate given the 'importance of broadcasters' operational and editorial independence.' However, DCMS said it would meet privately with ITV to 'explore' the issue. It noted that ITV was planning soap storylines about climate change and so 'may be amenable to the idea of something similar in relation to vaccine messaging'. Oliver Dowden, the former culture secretary, and John Whittingdale, the former minister for media and data, also met with Dame Carolyn, as well as Tony Hall, the BBC's former director-general, and Alex Mahon, the chief executive of Channel 4 in March and April 2020. Among the discussions were plans to 'introduce health messages in soap stories'. Ms Mahon agreed that Channel 4 would 'reinforce Public Health England guidance' and target young people through its YouTube channel. Pro-vaccine messaging did end up in soaps. In one episode of EastEnders in April 2021, Patrick Trueman told Suki Panesar he felt like he had 'won the lottery' after getting his second vaccination. In the same clip, Karen Taylor was accused of being an 'anti-vaxxer' for worrying that they had developed the vaccine too quickly. While modelling shows that the vaccine may have saved 1.4 million lives globally, there is also evidence it was harmful or even deadly for some people. More than 17,500 Britons have applied to the government's Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) believing they or loved ones were injured by the jab. Laura Dodsworth, author of Sunday Times bestsellers A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic and Free Your Mind, said the FoI was a smoking gun which confirmed what many people had suspected. 'The government was in close contact with broadcasters to ensure the 'right' messages made it into entertainment – that's not public health, it's propaganda,' she said. 'Behavioural scientists are not shy about writing openly about their role in nudging vaccine uptake. But it is always fascinating when the quiet part is said out loud: soaps were drafted into service. 'Take EastEnders. Patrick and Suki dutifully pushed the jab, while 'Karen' (white, and literally named Karen) voiced concerns and was ridiculed. It was heavy-handed, awkward and divisive. Propaganda often works by polarisation: creating in-groups and out-groups to shut down debate. There's a word for this: manipulation.' In January it emerged that the government had anticipated a £1.7 billion bill for injuries caused by the coronavirus vaccine. Yet it still sought to downplay concerns in soap storylines. Most of the successful vaccine harm claims relate to the AstraZeneca jab, which was found to cause vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis, a dangerous type of blood clotting which can be fatal. There is also data linking mRNA jabs to heart problems particularly in young people. Dr Colin Alexander, senior lecturer in political communications, at Nottingham Trent University said: 'What the FoI request information thus confirms is that broadcasters relinquished their primary democratic role of holding the powerful to account and instead became collusive with the official narrative. 'This at a time when scrutiny and investigation ought to have been at its highest. 'Full details of how pro-lockdown, pro-mask-wearing and pro-vaccine narratives were woven into the news broadcasts and entertainment products of the UK's key broadcasters will likely not be known unless several whistleblowers come forward with substantial caches of unredacted documents.' Molly Kingsley, the founder of campaign group UsForThem which was set up during the pandemic to protect children, said the briefing notes showed 'an egregious undermining of press freedom'. 'This kind of brazen state interference with British media crosses multiple red lines. 'It indicates that the state-led pandemic censorship operation extended beyond 'merely' social media, and it raises serious questions about the integrity of messages broadcast to the public during the pandemic. 'It seems impossible for the Covid inquiry to reach conclusions without taking account of this very material disclosure.' ITV said it had acted independently of the government during the pandemic. 'ITV delivered over ten hours a day of live news and discussion programmes which brought our viewers the most up to date information, developments and advice about the pandemic as well as providing a schedule that gave viewers an escape through entertainment,' a spokesman said. 'All of this was entirely editorially independent of the Government and any other body or interest group.' The Telegraph has approached DCMS, Channel 4 and the BBC for comment. Propaganda from the government's Nudge Unit By Laura Dodsworth A newly released FoI confirms what many suspected all along: during the pandemic, the UK government co-ordinated closely with broadcasters to ensure 'on-message' content – including pro-vaccine storylines in soaps. And who knows what else this FoI would confirm if the bulk of it wasn't redacted? As brainwashing expert Edward Hunter wrote: 'Entertainment is sugar-coating for mind pills.' During Covid, our national broadcasters were ladling on the sugar. You couldn't avoid Covid on TV for many months. Now, although soap operas are often issue-led, you might think viewers would like to tune in for a spot of escapism. They were denied the relief. Apart from the ubiquitous masks and elbow bumps, key messaging was awkwardly inserted. Take one 2021 episode of EastEnders featuring a classic engineered storyline. Patrick and Suki promote the jab in a warm but overtly scripted conversation, evoking a kind of narrative uncanny valley. They are thrilled to be getting their jabs and Suki says, 'I'm calling it my superpower. Make me that bit more invincible.' Enter Karen – the only white character in the scene, female and literally named 'Karen' – who voices concern. She's instantly mocked and shut down. The message? Trust the state. Don't be like Karen. This is a textbook case of polarisation – a classic propaganda tactic that creates a virtuous in-group (vaccinated, compliant) and a foolish out-group (sceptical, selfish). Suki is a superhero by extension of her superpower. Karen is just stupid. It wasn't subtle, and audiences noticed. There were complaints that it was awkward, contrived and dismissive of justifiable objections and informed consent. It didn't just happen in the UK. I spoke to a Hollywood screenwriter who received an invitation to a US summit titled Educating Audiences on the Covid-19 Vaccines. Organised by the Ad Council and Covid Collaborative, the email said: 'Film & TV writers have incredible persuasive power and reach to educate audiences through authentic and resonant storytelling. That's why we hope you'll join the Ad Council and Covid Collaborative in the largest communications initiative in U.S. history: a massive public education campaign to inspire more confidence in the Covid-19 vaccines. 'On June 29, hear from market research and messaging experts from the Ad Council, for an in-depth briefing on all the ways you can help – including how your scripts and storylines can integrate the key vaccine facts and framing that resonate with hesitant audiences.' The scriptwriter declined. He felt it was unethical and realised it would furthermore ruin the storytelling. But many didn't – and we got a stream of clunky vaccine cameos, awkward dialogue and virtue signalling in place of character development. Why didn't the government rely upon the official government briefings and NHS channels? Quite simply, people trust celebrities and more than politicians. As one NHS document explained, the messenger is key: 'We are heavily influenced by who communicates information to us – we automatically defer to formal sources of authority, and we are affected by people-like-us and by the feelings we have for the messenger.' When I was researching A State of Fear, a scientific advisor to the government told me – anonymously – that we'd soon see targeted TV campaigns, using familiar faces to push the vaccine, even specifying Lenny Henry would be the likely choice to target black and ethnic minority communities. Bingo! Cue Lenny Henry's Letter to Loved Ones campaign. One government paper recommended that communications targeting ethnic minorities should not be 'affiliated with government or formal healthcare services' in order to be 'more trusted by some groups' as well as providing immunisations in community-based settings and religious sites. (Robert Jenrick talked about the importance of this as he visited the UK's first vaccination centre in a mosque.) Meanwhile, celebrities were paid to post 'vaxxies', or vaccine selfies. Others received lucrative advertising contracts. As scientist Dr Daisy Fancourt told me during an interview for A State of Fear: 'It mustn't look like propaganda… It needs to come from influencers.' The key word is 'look'. It mustn't look like propaganda – even if it is. A panoply of unprecedented nudges everywhere pushed the vaccines. From soft and 'cuddly' (but weird) nudges like petting zoos, Euro football ticket raffles and clothing voucher giveaways, to hard and authoritarian nudges like the Vaccine Passport, the government was determined to get jabs in arms. But this isn't just about vaccines. As the FoI reveals, ITV was already 'planning soap storylines related to the environment and climate change and therefore they may be amenable to the idea of something similar in relation to vaccine messaging'. Television has long been used as a behaviour change tool for many purposes, including politically controversial net zero objectives. In 2022, Sky released a report written in collaboration with the UK government's Behavioural Insights Team (aka the Nudge Unit): The Power of TV: Nudging Viewers to Decarbonise their Lifestyles. The report openly encourages TV writers to weave climate messaging into dramas, children's shows (with bonus generational spillover effects) and even news. The aim? Normalise climate-conscious behaviours via scripted entertainment. Just as they admit they have in the past for public health, gender equality and reducing violence. These are all noble aims, but there's a word for sharing information that is biased and used to promote a political cause, especially through emotionally compelling narratives: propaganda. This collaboration between the Nudge Unit and different broadcasters explains how, during Cop26 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference), storylines in multiple soap operas converged on the environment. Each soap filmed scenes that covered different aspects of climate change, the shows referenced each other and characters popped up in different soaps. And given Eastenders's enthusiastic embrace of fashionable messaging, it's no surprise that the programme makers adapted the iconic closing credits to show London if sea levels rose by two metres. This FoI is a useful piece of evidence, but the real scandal has been hiding in plain sight all along. Behavioural scientists have boasted about their involvement. Politicians have proudly described how they engineered 'trusted messengers' to bypass scepticism. And television continues to be openly harnessed for net zero messaging. There's a growing trend of public policy delivered through storylines – we're being entertained into compliance. What better to wash your brain with than with a soap?


The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
EastEnders fans fear character has secretly QUIT Walford after they haven't been seen on screen for FOUR months
EASTENDERS fans are worried one character has secretly quit after realising they have vanished from the soap. Viewers have spotted that Lexi Pearce has not been on screen since EastEnders ' 40th anniversary, which was four months ago. 4 4 Fans are now concerned that Isabella Brown, the young actress who plays Lexi, has left the show. Lexi is the daughter of Ben Mitchell and the late Lola Pearce and is approaching her 13th birthday in EastEnders. Die-hard soap fans are now wondering if Lexi will return "with a different head", as many of the child stars have over the years. Writing on Reddit, one EastEnders viewer said: "Anyone know what's happening with Lexi? She hasn't been seen since the 40th anniversary and was rather absent prior to that too. "Lexi is 13 next month. The same age as Lily was when she gave birth." They added: "With only 9 appearances this year I wouldn't be shocked to see her return with a new head." Replying, another fan agreed: "Looks wise the actress reminds me a lot of the old Amy Mitchell so I wonder if they'll recast her soon to someone more older/ older looking." A third chimed in: "I think as Lexi is nearly 13 she should be part of the friendship group with Tommy, Ricky, Denzel, Nugget, Avani , Amy, Lilly and Will. "Also they seem to have forgotten Amy, Ricky and Barney are her cousins so it's weird they hardly hang out and a while back they were developing a friendship between her and Amy too." And a fourth added: "I hope she doesn't get recast. She's a great actress and it's nice to see a realistic looking teenager. BBC EastEnders fans break down in tears at Lexi Mitchell's gesture to dying mum Lola Pearce "Most of the teens are played by adults and even the likes of Lily who is only 16 irl I feel always looked a bit older (which obviously isn't her fault, some teens do look older which is realistic but not literally all of them.)." This is not the first time fans have been left scratching their heads over Lexi's lack of on-screen appearances. In December last year, EastEnders viewers raised identical concerns following another long absence. It came after a huge storyline, which saw Lexi's mum Lola - played by Danielle Harold - tragically die from an untreatable brain tumour. Lexi's dad Ben - Max Bowden - then ended up in prison for fraud. Lexi did, however, return to the BBC One soap and featured in February's huge EastEnders 40th Anniversary Week. Isabella Brown's agent had previously confirmed that she would continue to play Lexi "throughout 2025". A post on EJC Management's Instagram in December said: "So very proud of this young lady! "Our incredible ISABELLA BROWN will continue to play the brilliant Lexi Pearce throughout 2025 in @bbceastenders ⭐️ "Isabella joined the square 6 years ago and seeing her grow as an actress is such a joy! Her dedication, drive, professionalism and work ethic is so inspiring from someone so young. "She has had some amazing storylines and we can't wait to see what 2025 has in store for Lexi!" 4 4