Max forces his way into Linda’s life in EastEnders despite her booting him out

Max Branning (Jake Wood) wants nothing more than to help Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) with the onslaught of family drama her returning kids, Lee and Nancy (Maddy Hill and Danny Hatchard) have brought to her door in EastEnders.

When Nancy came back, Linda’s jaw hit the floor when she saw the sizeable baby bump she was carrying, it then dropped even further when Lee revealed that he is the dad, with Nancy acting as a surrogate for her brother and his partner, Jess (Emma Lau).

Under the impression that Jess had walked out and abandoned her baby boy, Linda set about organising a mission to track her down alongside Lee, completely in the dark as to what had actually happened with Jess.

Returning home to find the elusive Jess in Peacock’s Palace, Linda was hit with the reality of the situation: Lee had actually left Jess, with his escalating issues with alcohol at the root of their predicament, with Nancy later swearing that she won’t sign over parental responsibility to Lee in his current state.

While Linda had tried to ensure that her fledgling relationship with Max remained secret, a drunken Lee exposed them in the Vic, leading to a bitter clash with Max’s ex Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), and harsh judgement from the other Walford residents.

Cindy even told Linda the truth about Max leaving Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) to die, though the silver-tongued lothario managed to talk his way out of it.

There’s no break for Linda next week, as Lee’s drinking remains out of control, and she challenges her son to go sober for a week.

As she does, Nancy gets brutally honest with her mum over her worries and concerns about what she’s in for.

This leads Linda to offer to attend her upcoming antenatal class with her daughter in Lee’s place, soothing Nancy’s fears momentarily.

Wounded at being pushed out of the situation, Lee heads straight for the bottle, and later emerges at the antenatal class drunk, making a scene and, in the process, making everything worse.

Later in the week, Max tries to step in the help right the Carter ship and cut the palpable tension between Linda, Lee and Nancy but is told by Linda in no uncertain terms to butt out; he’s not welcome to get involved in family business.

Deeply hurt, it only gets worse when Linda then asks him to leave, making it clear that she means what she says, and he turns to Nancy instead, still trying to help resolve things.

He puts his foot in his mouth when he starts criticising Lee, though, and Nancy echoes her mum’s words, telling him to butt out.

Turning his own daughter Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) for support, Max vows to win a place among the Carters…but will his constant attempts to interfere only damage his relationship with Linda?