Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) is about to feel the full force of a massive Mitchell feud in EastEnders as Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) takes aim at her brother Phil (Steve McFadden).
She’s set for a massive run-in with Phil’s son, Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) as the drama really kicks off.
Newlyweds Kat and Phil only tied the knot in September, and the wedding almost didn’t go ahead as the groom was in Peggy’s confessing to the bride’s ex Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) that he’d been unfaithful.
The, er, lucky lady was Emma Harding (Patsy Kensit), but Phil did make it to the registry office and – secrets aside – Kat and Phil do seem to be a good match.
That is, until Aunt Sal’s funeral, when Sal’s husband Harold casually mentions that Sam, Phil and their brother Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) have been left £100,000 in her will.
Feisty Sal, as viewers will know, was the outspoken sister of Phil and Sam’s mum, Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor).
It’s the first Sam has heard of the windfall.
She’s quick to ask Phil why he hadn’t told her, and demand her cash.
But there’s plenty of simmering bad blood between Phil and Sam – let’s not forget her fling with Phil’s former arch-rival Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), and helping gangster Jonah Tyler (Mark Mooney) in his attempt to bring down the Mitchell empire. So he refuses to hand it over.
That’s when Sam overhears Kat’s ex, Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and realises Phil has slept with Emma.
It the dynamite Sam needs to get the cash out of Phil – or so she thinks – and sets about blackmailing him.
But Phil won’t play ball, and when Kat spots her husband across the square, colluding with his son Ben, she knows something is up and smells a rat.
Kat heads to no 29 and confronts Ben, determined to find out what’s going on.
A big showdown ensues – but Ben knows where his loyalties lie and he covers for his dad.
The row comes ahead of Max Bowden, who plays Ben, leaving EastEnders after four years – though the character is not expected to be killed off.
Later, at his joint birthday party with Kat in the Vic, Phil decides he will agree to Sam’s demands after all.
But as he has a touching heart-to-heart with his wife, Sam picks up the mic and tells everyone about him and Emma.
It’s fair to say it goes down badly all round and poor Kat is left reeling.
