EastEnders spoilers follow.
EastEnders has brought in another new character in a sad storyline involving Denise Fox. After the soap introduced her half-brother Darnell Larson Jr in yesterday’s episode, Walford also welcomed Darnell’s daughter in a big twist for the Fox-Trueman family.
In tonight’s episode, which also saw a shocking change to Amy and Craig’s story, the doctor informed Denise’s husband Jack Branning that she was strong enough to be woken up from her coma.
BBC
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The doctor warned Jack that the infections were likely to return and that a further round of chemotherapy could be “hard on Denise’s body”, insisting that a stem cell transplant would be the best option.
After Darnell chickened out of getting tested to see if he and Denise were compatible, Jack resolved to find him at all costs. “I’ll just go and find Darnell myself,” Jack snapped at his family as they were discussing the best approach to find Denise a donor.
As Yolande confided in Phil Mitchell that she feared Jack would do something stupid, Kim and Patrick visited Denise in hospital.
Phil caught up with Jack, who was on a stakeout to find Darnell. The cop broke down in tears as he couldn’t locate Denise’s half-brother, with Phil comforting and urging him to drive back.
Right as they were driving away, new character Grace was seen speaking with her dad Darnell on the phone and revealed that Jack had come to the flat looking for him.
Grace barged into the café and gave Jack a piece of her mind. She demanded for the stalking to stop, but a desperate Jack tried to convince Darnell to at least take the test. Once again, he refused.
BBC
“For reasons I cannot explain, you are going to have to accept my choice,” Darnell said. But Jack reached for Darnell’s arm and grabbed him, as he and Grace hurriedly left.
Phil made one final attempt with Denise’s half-brother, pleading with him to not walk away, but Darnell wouldn’t budge. As Jack and Phil left, Grace told Darnell: “Dad, maybe you should.”
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Kim had told Denise that she had a half-brother, leaving Jack the unenviable task of admitting to his wife that Darnell wouldn’t take a swab. Upset at having lost the best chance they had to help Denise, Kim lashed out at the family and stormed out.
In the final scenes, Kim and Jack cleared the air and resorted to devise a plan to save Denise. As Jack vowed that giving up was “not an option”, Darnell paid Denise a surprise visit. Is he going to take the test after all?
EastEnders airs on Mondays – Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.
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