EastEnders fans terrified for Walford as dark new villain emerges
Who is the real Ned Hawkins?
One of the rules in soapland is this: If a character is too nice, it’s usually because there’s something sinister afoot.
This appears to be the case for Ned Hawkins (Jamie Bamber) in EastEnders. Introduced as Gemma Hawkins’ (Patricia Potter) laid back husband who is also pals with Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), Ned’s now showing a darker side.
It was revealed a few weeks ago that Ned and Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington) have been keeping a secret together for 20 years. It turns out that Ned knows that Nicola drove her dad off the road prior to his death, and has helped her cover up the truth all this time.
Viewers also got an insight into how Ned views his son Ryder Hawkins (Felix Uff) after the youngster spent the evening with another man. Ned spotted them together, and became upset and angry by what he was watching.
It’s clear the real Ned Hawkins is beginning to surface every so often and, according to fans of the BBC One soap, things are only going to get worse.
Georgia wrote: ‘I suspect this is the beginning of the Nasty Ned storyline, we’ve seen him blackmail Nicola but I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg. No spoilers but his face judging by what he saw in tonight’s episode looked pretty sinister. 2027 whodunnit maybe’.
Kezza echoed the concerns about Ned and said: ‘I don’t trust Ned at all but hopefully him helping Ian is genuine & not just buttering him up because he’s planning something#EastEnders’.
Marie added: ‘I don’t believe Ned is genuine’.
Jac wondered: ‘So Ned is going to be the next big villain then?’.
Other viewers of EastEnders are also being reminded of Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith) whenever Ned is on screen.
Gray was introduced as a genuine family man who had a great job but, behind closed doors, he was abusing partner Chantelle, and then went on to kill her, Tina Carter and Kush Kazemi.
Next week, Ned tries to focus on rallying the community together to mark him becoming co-owner of Harry’s Barn, but what he saw on the Square lingers on his mind.
The patriarch turns his attention to Ryder, pressuring him into returning to sport after an old football coach makes contact.
Nicola learns the truth about one of Ryder’s former teammates – and the struggles he faced after coming out – so she starts to understand why her nephew is reluctant to open up to his loved ones about his sexuality.
Ryder tells Nicola about the man he’s been seeing and admits he has some concerns about Ned’s influence over his life.
Armed with a newfound confidence, Ryder resolves to have an important conversation and asks Gemma if he can speak with her later on that day. Ned, however, has overheard his request.
What will he do next?
