Linda Carter’s (Kellie Bright) loved ones are at the end of their tether in EastEnders as her drinking spirals out of control in the lead up to the festive season.
The landlady of the Queen Vic, as viewers know, has been seeking solace in the bottom of a bottle for much of this year as she struggles to process the events of last Christmas.
Despite the fact that she was simply trying to save Sharon Watts’ (Letitia Dean), taking Keanu Taylor’s (Danny Walters) life has weighed heavily on her, as has Bernie’s (Clair Norris) threat of going to the police.
With Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) having handed himself in to the police for the crime and Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) having confessed to raping her a decade ago, Linda ultimately sought help for her addiction – but Bernie’s return to the Square led to her relapsing.
What’s more, the discovery that her beloved dad John was gay – and that Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) knew – left her questioning everything.
Johnny (Charlie Suff) has desperately tried to get Linda help to no avail and upcoming scenes will see him devastated when Ollie relays the true extent of their mum’s disturbing and drunken behaviour.
Before he can confront her, Linda gets drunk again and proceeds to kick punters out of the Vic – all in front of Ollie.
At his wits end, Johnny corners his mum, telling her the impact that her drinking is having on her loved ones – namely Ollie and Annie – but Linda refuses to hear it, turning on him.
‘When Johnny confronts her about Ollie not wanting to be around her, Linda just can’t go there,’ admitted actress Kellie Bright as she discussed the scenes in question.
‘She doesn’t want to hear it and what’s happening to her is always someone else’s fault, so Linda just turns it all back around on Johnny. She becomes almost like a child and he’s the adult.
‘Linda can’t look at herself, so she turns everything outward, and she won’t acknowledge she’s got a problem. In her head, she is justifying it by believing that everything she does is right and everything that Johnny does is wrong’.
Fed up of her loved ones attempting to intervene, Linda packs her bags and leaves the pub, going to stay with Sharon.
Sharon – who knows more than most about the impact that alcohol addiction can have on one’s family – gives Linda quite the dressing down over her behaviour.
Linda therefore decides to head home but she encounters Bernie en route, with the confrontation proving rather upsetting.
Utterly heartbroken, the matriarch drops in to the Minute Mart to buy some booze. Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) refuses to serve her so Linda simply grabs the bottle and storms out.
Alfie reports the incident back to Johnny, who discovers that Sharon’s place has been broken into and robbed – all because Linda left the door open.
Hitting the bottle once again, Linda’s behaviour escalates, bringing disgrace to her and pain to her loved ones. Upsetting showdowns with both Alfie and Johnny ensue – and she knocks back the booze like never before.
Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) offer to attend a meeting with her and Linda agrees, which comes as welcomed news to Johnny, who is pleased that his mum seemingly wants to recover.
But his excitement is short-lived, with Linda in the grips of her addiction once again when Elaine returns from her honeymoon, horrified to see how far her daughter has fallen.
‘When Elaine comes back, she quickly discovers she has to take drastic action,’ said Kellie. ‘She needs to get Linda help because she can’t carry on like this.’
Elaine’s attempts to get through to Linda fall flat, however, and a truly devastating day ensues, with the Vic’s newest landlady realising that she can no longer enable her daughter, instead issuing her with a shocking ultimatum.
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The question is: just what does this ultimatum entail? And will it be drastic enough to make Linda stop drinking?
Or, with filming pictures hinting at a bleak end for Linda, will Elaine’s ultimatum simply lead to more devastation for the Carter clan?
One to watch: Thursday December 12 at 7:30pm on BBC One or stream from 6am on BBC iPlayer.
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