ON-SCREEN, Lola Pearce is living her very last moments in Albert Square.
Next week in EastEnders, however, her loved ones will be left grieving for her. How will they cope?
Lola Pearce is drawing her last breath this week
Next week, her loved ones try to cope with her death
Ben and Jay try to support Lexi as much as possible
BBC One viewers have been warned to get their tissues at the ready as Danielle Harold‘s final scenes in the long-running soap will air this week.
But after Lola draws her last breath, succumbing to a terminal brain tumour, her loved ones are left at a loss next week.
Phil Mitchell (played by Steve McFadden) is firstly unimpressed that his son Ben (Max Bowden) intends to sell the Arches to Sharon Watts and he’s hellbent on the deal.
It’s later revealed why Ben is so adamant on leaving the Arches behind.
Once the sale is done, Ben focuses all his attention on his daughter Lexi (Isabella Brown) but she’s finding it hard to open up.
He takes her for ice cream and tries to get her excited about going to see Callum Highway (Tony Clay), but all Lexi wants to do is go home to Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) and get into bed.
Callum advises Ben to brave the subject of Lola and to allow a grieving Lexi to talk about her mum.
In later scenes, Ben and Jay have an emotional afternoon with Lexi and encourage the grieving girl to talk about her mum.
Will their efforts be enough?
Jay then invites Kim Fox (Tameka Empson) and Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) over to share out more items from Lola’s memory box with Ben.
As his friends try to give Jay the strength to go on, it’s clear he’s faltering in the midst of his all-consuming grief after witnessing his wife Lola breathe her last.
Will Jay find a way to cope?
How will the family handle Lola’s upcoming festival-style funeral?
EastEnders airs from Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
Ben makes Lexi a priority
But how will he manage his own grief?
