Denise gets shattering news in EastEnders and terrified Amy pays the price

This article contains spoilers for tonight’s (Wednesday October 28) EastEnders, which has not yet aired on TV but is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

Denise Fox (Diane Parish) suffered a hell of a day today, coming face to face with a glaring reminder of the very real possibility that she might not win her current battle with cancer, before learning about the current plight of her step daughter, Amy Mitchell (Ellie Dadd), who’s on the run with creepy groomer, Craig Ingram (Matthew James Bailey).

As the Slater family and the Square at large prepared for Zoe Slater’s (Michelle Ryan), Denise struggled with the prospect that her own loved ones could be facing the ordeal of saying goodbye to her shortly as Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) remained edgy.

He blew off Denise’s concerns by claiming that Zoe’s funeral was playing on his mind, before Darnell Larson Jr (Christopher Colquhoun) arrived to momentarily break the rising tension, just before Denise asked Jack when Amy was due to arrive home, needing someone to watch trashy TV with.

Darnell looked on awkwardly as Jack lied that she’d be home tomorrow before lying that he needed to head to work – though Denise smelt a rat and knew something was amiss.

Peering out onto the Square as Zoe’s hearse arrived, Denise wasn’t at all lifted when Darnell brought out plates of egg mayo sandwiches, thinking deeply about the process of a funeral; the tears, the emotion, the kind words, before everyone heads to a pub and tucks in to a plateful of egg sandwiches.

Darnell, desperate to provide a distraction, told Denise to stop watching through the window, even offering himself up for an afternoon of trash TV watching, but Denise was in too deep, head filled with images of her own family sitting in the car that had just arrived for the Slater clan, and Jack wearing the suit he’d set out for Zoe’s funeral for her own.

Mind whirring, Denise asked Darnell point blank why Jack was at work, and despite his desperate attempts to lie his way out of it, Darnell confessed what was really going on: Amy’s missing.

As Jack received a talking to from Callum Highway (Tony Clay) over his insistence on taking the investigation into his own hands, he received a text from Denise, demanding that they talk about what’s happening.

Amy, meanwhile, remained in the clutches of Craig, miserable and missing home, clutching a teddy bear that Denise had previously gifted her.

Jack returned home to Denise as Darnell gave them some privacy, accepting his decision to tell her the truth, and being faced with a barrage of questions from his wife.

Jack apologised profusely, admitting he thought he could fix things before Denise knew any different, but Denise’s hurt ran deeper, feeling that by leaving her out of the situation, she’d been reduced to ‘just an illness’, before demanding that Jack tell her the entire truth.

Later on, Denise lamented that she didn’t see it coming after Amy had confessed to having an older boyfriend, while Jack finally told Denise about Amy’s attack on Joel and how Craig used his knowledge of it to groom her, and she started to sob just as Amy tried to call home.

As Denise apologised for not disclosing about Amy’s boyfriend, her nose began to bleed as Jack tended to her, with them both missing that Denise’s phone was ringing.

With the stress and turmoil taking an enormous toll on Denise’s health, and Amy remaining stuck with a vile predator, how much worse will things get for the family? What with this being soap land, I’d wager a lot worse!