EastEnders airs nasty Nish torment for Stacey and Suki in early BBC iPlayer release

It was Denise Fox’s (Diane Parish) birthday, and her loved ones prepared a special celebration for her. But she continued to struggle with her mental health, hallucinating that she was still wearing her signature ‘D’ necklace.

When young son Raymond presented Denise with a birthday card with a photo of her wearing the necklace, she became overwhelmed and ran outside. Viewers know Denise lost the jewellery while helping to bury Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters).

Meanwhile, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) insisted to Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) that she must finalise her divorce to Nish (Navin Chowdhry), guaranteeing ownership of the café where the body lay under cement.

Suki pointed out that they should be more concerned about a fragile Denise, while urging Stacey to buck her own ideas up as she had forgotten all about baby granddaughter Charli’s guardianship hearing the following day.

Little did they know that suspicious Nish was watching as they emerged from their secret meeting, and Suki arranged to visit him at home. Nish again tried to extract a confession from Suki about the attack on him at Christmas, threatening police action.

Suki gave Nish an edited version of the night he was almost killed, admitting that she considered leaving him for dead after how he had abused her over the years. But, she added, she thought about their children and chose to save his life.

Hopeful that she had convinced Nish, Suki asked him to sign the divorce paperwork and leave her with the café. But when Suki left, Nish tore up the documents in a rage.

Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) attempted to make amends with Denise, but the spooked woman spotted Nish nearby, and Jack felt rejected when she dodged a kiss.

Nish quizzed Kat Mitchell (Jessie Wallace) about Stacey’s stalker Theo Hawthorne (William Ellis). When Kat claimed she’d put money on Stacey in a fight “with her history”, this gave Nish the ammunition he needed.

He barged into Stacey’s home and launched into a series of questions about Theo, and the late Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb), who was killed by Stacey several years ago. Cornering a terrified Stacey, Nish suggested that she had been the one to attack him, not Keanu.

Threatening to report her to the police, Nish remained cool and calm as Stacey picked up a knife, before Jack burst in and ordered Nish away, making it clear that he knew about the attempt on Eve Unwin’s (Heather Peace) life.

Stacey crumbled in Jack’s arms, before the pair shared a kiss. Jack walked away feeling guilty, while at home, Denise felt terrible when Raymond asked for his mummy back.

Promising Raymond she would make everything better, Denise planned to tell Jack the truth about Christmas. But will she go ahead with the confession?