EastEnders fans experienced a rollercoaster of emotions last week when the wedding day of Whitney Dean (played by Shona McGarty) and Callum Highway (Tony Clay) arrived and then proceeded to slowly derail.
Months of fleeting looks, secret kisses and bubbling chemistry between the undertaker and Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) came to the surface in some extremely dramatic and emotional scenes as Callum and Ben’s forbidden affair was exposed.
Understandably, Whitney jilted Callum at the altar, refusing to marry him when he loved someone else, and while Callum tried to deny his feelings for Ben, it was clear to everyone how deeply he cared for the mechanic by the way he responded when Ben got shot.
The soap intertwined the ‘Ballum’ drama and Hunter Owen’s (Charlie Winter) revenge plan which resulted in a shoot out at the Queen Vic, and while Hunter ended up dead, Ben was rushed to hopsital as his life hung in the balance.
While the love triangle between Whitney, Callum and Ben has been loosely tied up, BBC bosses have revealed what’s in store for Whitney in the aftermath of her heartbreak.
“We talk often about Whitney, her troubled past, her history with men and her bad luck in relationships,” Executive Producer Jon Sen told the press.
“Shona plays tragedy so well. Whitney’s such a compelling character and she’s a character who you can give really tough stories to and she plays them with such conviction and power.”
He also spoke about the conversation he had with BBC Headlines of Continuing Drama Kate Oates and the direction in which they hope to take Whitney.
“We wanted to push her front and centre of the show and this story becomes a chapter in a much longer arc than we had planned.
“Over the next 18 months, she learns from everything you’re going to see coming up,” he teased.
READ MORE: EastEnders spoilers: Fans slam police blunders as Hunter Owen is killed in siege
During a conversation with her fleeting step-mother Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer), Whitney went into detail about all the failed relationships she has had in the past.
As for whether or not she will be fortunate enough to meet someone new and move on from Callum in the next year or so, both Jon and Kate said “it may take some real time” before viewers see this on screen.
Nevertheless, fans needn’t worry because the bosses are keeping Whitney as a “long runner”.
“We know where we’re taking Whitney across a couple of years, which is always a joy with a character because we don’t always get that,” Jon added.
There is a strong possibility Whitney is going to be occupied with the latest family drama
On the day of Whitney’s wedding day, Bianca ushered Tiffany Butcher (Maisie Smith) away from a young man who she had just met, Leo.
And because of how the loud-mouth behaved, tongues began wagging on Twitter suggesting Leo and Bianca had crossed paths before.
The BBC bosses expanded on this theory and confirmed he was a blast from Bianca’s past, suggesting “it’s also possibly part of the reason she didn’t rush back when Tiffany was involved in the gang,” Kate explained.
Is Leo a child of Bianca’s perhaps?
EastEnders returns at 8pm on BBC One.