EastEnders confirms Zack Hudson's fate in dramatic crash aftermath in early BBC iPlayer release

After he was kidnapped by Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway), who vowed to stop Zack from taking his biological son, Barney Mitchell (Lewis Bridgeman), away, Harry's dad, Teddy (Roland Manookian), stepped in to save Zack.

But Zack assumed that Teddy was trying to kill him, and he grabbed the steering wheel, plunging them into the lake.

Teddy made it out unscathed, but he and Harry assumed that Zack had drowned and returned to Walford to tell Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).

While no one made much of an effort to double-check about Zack, not even calling the authorities to start a search, Vicki Fowler (Alice Haig) furiously confronted Harry, Teddy and Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington) when she learned the news.

Vicki exposed Barney's paternity to the confused teen before revealing that his mum, Nicola, was a murderer.

Unable to continue with all the lies, Teddy confirmed to Barney that Zack is his father, and the pair shared a private heart-to-heart, beautifully played by stars Bridgeman and Manookian.

Teddy promised that he would always be Barney's dad, but Barney became overwhelmed and went for a walk, ending up at the home Zack shares with Vicki and their absent sister Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean).

At the bar, Nicola admitted to Harry that yes, she had killed his pregnant girlfriend, Shireen Bashar, after drunkenly confiding in her about Barney's father, which Shireen had wanted to reveal.

Meanwhile, as Barney was coming to terms with the situation, Zack walked into the house, dripping wet but alive and kicking.

He had swum to the other side of the lake to keep safe from the Mitchells, and Zack was scornful when Phil explained that Teddy was actually trying to help him.

Alone with Barney, Zack nervously explained his side of the events. But when Zack told him that Nicola had got him attacked, and that she was a killer, Barney couldn't cope.

Zack's desperation to protect Barney turned to hysteria, and on the street, the situation came to a head, resulting in a fight between Teddy and Zack.

Nicola put a stop to the fisticuffs, urging Barney to speak up about what he truly wanted.

Barney wanted everything to go back to normal, and Harry begrudgingly agreed to return home with him, Teddy and Nicola.

When Barney asked to play a board game despite the late hour, this broke the ice among the foursome.

But is Harry really so willing to forgive and forget?

And what is Zack's next move?

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EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.

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