There's more devastation in store for EastEnders favourite Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) as she faces the ultimate betrayal at the hands of her own family.
The landlady has been in emotional turmoil even since her rapist Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) returned to the Square and went into business with the Beales to start a pie-and-mash shop.
Although he was never brought to justice for it, Dean raped Linda and has been protesting his innocence ever since.
Dean's depraved mind became even more twisted when he blackmailed Linda into falsely retracting her rape allegation against him so that he wouldn't report her stepdad George Knight (Colin Salmon) to the police for attacking him.
In upcoming scenes, Linda prepares to face her first Christmas without Mick Carter (Danny Dyer), a year after he disappeared at sea on Christmas Day.
Linda is heartbroken even more when she discovers that her children Nancy and Lee aren't coming home, but things take a horrifying turn when she receives a picture from Dean dressed as Santa, with her son Ollie at the Beale's Eels grotto.
She furiously confronts him in front of his ill daughter Jade Green (Elizabeth Green), but Linda is dealt a final blow when her future step-sister Gina Knight (Francesca Henry) makes a shocking confession to Dean.
Gina has been a pillar of support for Linda, even spray painting the word "rapist" across the front of Beale's Eels on their opening day and handing out flyers telling the other residents to boycott Dean's business.
But Gina is set to do the unthinkable and betray a spiralling Linda as she tells Dean that she believes him over Linda.
Prior to this bombshell, Gina befriends Dean's daughter Jade when she arrives at the Vic and encourages her to make amends with Dean after a chat about absent parents.
How will Linda cope with the fact that her own family are turning against her?
EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now.
