Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) and George Knight (Colin Salmon) were all relieved to discover that Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) had survived being pushed down the stairs in EastEnders, though this later created problems for the family.
During a confrontation with Dean, George had hit him and sent him flying down the Queen Vic stairs, leaving him lying unconscious at the bottom.
Terrified that he may have killed him, George quickly rushed down to check on him, and there were sighs of relief all round when he was still alive. However, the tensions began to rise when Dean accused George of trying to kill him.
Cindy phoned an ambulance, but pretended that she hadn’t seen what had happened to Dean, in order to protect George from the consequences. This left partner Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) with a sour taste in his mouth, having always felt threatened by the presence of Cindy’s ex-husband in their lives.
As Dean was taken off to hospital, the severity of the situation dawned on Linda upstairs in the Queen Vic as Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) explained that George was on a suspended sentence for assault. Therefore, it was vital that Cindy didn’t change her story, or George could face prison time.
Determined to keep her future step-dad around, Linda headed off for a chat with Cindy, who was already getting an earful from Ian about her decision to keep quiet.
As Linda urged Cindy not to change her mind about keeping quiet, George arrived and told them not to get involved, revealing that he would take the punishment if Dean were to go to the police.
At the hospital, Cindy and Ian continued to discuss their options, with Cindy hoping to buy Dean out of the business using the money from the Marbella bar sale, but Ian made it clear that putting all of their eggs in one basket was risky, and that siding with George and Linda would cause the whole business partnership to collapse.
As Ian tried to persuade Cindy to tell the truth, she worried about how this would affect her relationship with her daughters. Ian pointed out that if they didn’t have the business, then they wouldn’t be able to afford a roof over their heads and she would lose her girls anyway, and if she got caught lying to the police then she would end up back behind bars herself.
Meanwhile, Linda and Gina Knight (Francesca Henry) had a heart to heart, where Gina admitted that she was worried about losing her dad, having only just started to get used to having both of her parents around.
This left Linda feeling terrible, so she decided to head to the hospital and attempt to get through to Dean.
Before she could get there, however, Ian made the most of a few brief minutes alone with Dean, encouraging him to sue George for compensation. When Dean pointed out the Ian just wanted Cindy’s ex out of the picture, Ian made it clear that the Knights and Linda would just keep coming after him and their business unless he shut them down.
When Linda finally arrived, she pleaded with him not to go to the police, but Dean retorted that she had always been ‘banging on about how crimes should be punished’.
He lamented that all he was trying to do was be a good dad to his daughter, but that Linda was determined to ruin his life.
Desperate to get George off the hook, Linda promised to ‘drop’ what he had done to her and let him live his life, though that wasn’t enough for Dean.
As he described the night that he had raped Linda from his perspective, it became very clear that he truly believed that he was innocent. It was then that he promised to tell the police that he had fallen down the stairs, but on one condition: Linda had to tell everyone that she had lied about being raped.
With George at risk of going to prison, will Linda do what Dean has asked?
