EastEnders airs heartwarming scenes in history-making early iPlayer release
Walford celebrated as two of its own ran the London Marathon.
*Warning: contains spoilers for EastEnders' episode airing 22nd April 2024, which is now available to watch on iPlayer.*
There was some much-needed happiness in the latest instalment of EastEnders, after Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) and Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) made history by running the London Marathon in real time to coincide with this year's annual event.
Ahead of the big day, Jay considered dropping out, feeling unable to run in honour of late wife Lola Pearce-Brown (Danielle Harold) when he had just found out that he'd got sex worker Nadine Keller (Jazzy Phoenix) pregnant!
Meanwhile, Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) entered into a series of comedy errors as he desperately tried to propose to his beloved Honey, with laughs aplenty as he accidentally popped the question to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) instead, before getting arrested for theft when he tried to retrieve the engagement ring at the marathon venue!
At the Vic, Lexi Pearce (Isabella Brown) remained furious with Jay, displaying some iconic Mitchell attitude when grandad Phil tried to get her to open up.
While Lexi doubted that Jay and her other stepfather Callum Highway (Tony Clay) would stick around, Phil convinced her the family would always be there for her, and the pair headed to the finish line to cheer on Jay and Honey.
Stars Barton and Borthwick completed the marathon to the cheers of their co-stars, with the live scenes edited into the episode for their alter egos' storyline.
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After finally emerging from a police van, a dishevelled Billy eventually met Honey at the finish line, only to realise that the man he'd been held in custody with had stolen the ring!
His plan having seemingly failed, Billy was forced to give up, and the day took an emotional turn when Jay and a much calmer Lexi decided to scatter Lola's ashes on the Square.
Jay gave a moving speech about Lola's legacy of love, and he and Lexi vowed to move on from the hurt and only remember the happy memories they would always hold onto.
The clan then moved over to The Queen Victoria, where Honey revealed that her inspiration during the marathon came from an audio book - not by Mahatma Gandhi, as Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) assumed, but by David Gandy!
As the pub's TV showed a news report from the marathon, the locals cheered when the footage revealed Honey on one knee, proposing to a thrilled Billy - after all, as Honey pointed out, it is a leap year!
The episode ended on a joyous note as the Mitchells and friends celebrated, and EastEnders made history once more.
Read more:
- EastEnders reveals dark Pastor Clayton history in distressing early iPlayer release
- EastEnders spoilers: Billy plans romantic proposal – but loses Honey's engagement ring
- EastEnders stars on Lola's legacy in marathon story: 'It's keeping her alive'
- EastEnders' Jamie Borthwick reveals his dream storyline for Jay and Ben
- Jamie Borthwick on Jay's reaction to Nadine's baby bombshell in EastEnders
EastEnders normally airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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Authors
Laura Denby is a Freelance Soaps writer covering all the latest news in the Dales, Cobbles and East End for Radio Times. She's a soaps nerd with a love for comedy drama, and has also written for Digital Spy, Metro UK and Yahoo UK.
