EastEnders sets up explosive Nicola Mitchell showdown in early iPlayer cliffhanger

Shireen was the girlfriend of Nicola and Teddy's (Roland Manookian) son Harry (Elijah Holloway), and when she disappeared, Harry came under constant suspicion.

This week, it was revealed to viewers that Nicola's motivations for getting rid of the young woman were to protect the truth about younger son Barney's (Lewis Bridgeman) paternity.

Unaware that he is not Barney's biological father, Teddy discovered Nicola's crime and, after struggling to find the money to pay hitman Benji (Carl Prekopp), Teddy set the scene for the police to find Benji digging up Shireen's corpse.

Benji shouted that Nicola was the guilty party, and as he had buried Shireen with a bracelet belonging to Nicola, she knew she would face police questioning the minute Teddy explained what he had done.

Teddy believed that Nicola hadn't carried out the murder and that she had only wanted Shireen to leave, so he urged her to stay calm in the face of what was to come.

In the Square, Harry was devastated when Shireen's brother Asad (Aslan Amjad) called to tell him that her body had been found.

Nicola was desperate for Teddy to take Harry away for the day so she could deal with the police in secret, but it was too late when he returned home to reveal his knowledge of Shireen's death.

Detectives arrived to quiz Nicola on Benji's allegations and ask her about the jewellery, but Nicola claimed she had previously given it to Shireen as a gift.

She played it cool as the officers insisted they'd be back if further questioning was necessary, but her day got worse when Benji left her a threatening message from police custody, saying he had people who could come after her and she'd better watch her back.

At Harry's Barn, Nicola was spooked by a glass smashing and she was poised to defend herself.

But the culprit was Harry, who grabbed her arm and branded his mum a liar, now fully aware of what she had done to Shireen.

How will the ensuing showdown play out?

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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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