Lauren Branning is left in a tricky situation in Monday's New Year's Day episode of EastEnders (7:30 pm. See our TV Guide for full listings).
Lauren Branning was last seen in France visiting her son's father, Peter Beale, who was staying with his dad Ian Beale in a quaint French villa.
The couple had split up after emigrating to New Zealand together but it seemed the love was still there.
When Lauren found out that Peter had been hiding a huge secret, that his 'dead' mum Cindy Beale was alive and kicking and living in the French villa with him, it was too much to take and they went their separate ways again.
Rather than returning to New Zealand for good, Lauren has been to see her cousin, Penny Branning, who has been living in France with mum Selina since she was a young girl.
The daughter of Lauren's uncle Jack Branning, Penny was injured in a car accident when she was little and is in a wheelchair.
A grown up Penny rivals Lauren in the glamour stakes and she seems to inherited the Branning love of drama.
At a swish New Year's party, the girls are celebrating but things soon take a turn for the worse...
After surprise revelation, Lauren and Penny realise that they have no choice but to flee the country and Walford seems the best place to go!
Zack Hudson and Whitney Dean have had their fair share of heartbreak over the last year when they lost their daughter Peach.
The couple managed to pick up the pieces of their shattered life and after deciding not to try for another child, things were looking up when they were accepted for fostering.
It was long before Whitney and Zack took in their first foster foster child, Ashton, just before Christmas. After an all too brief chance to parent the young boy, the pair are devastated when they have to tell Ashton that he's moving to a new foster home.
Whitney finds it difficult to cope with the situation and instead of talking things through, Zack heads to Peggy's with best mate Martin Fowler to drown his sorrows.
After being invited to Sonia Fowler's intimate New Year's Eve bash, Whitney appreciates Sonia's attempt to cheer her up, but it's not working.
Have Whitney and Zack been pushed apart yet again?
Meanwhile, George Knight gets a massive New Year's surprise when his adoptive parents Gloria and Eddie Knight arrive in the Square!
EastEnders continues on BBC One on Tuesday at 7:30 pm.
