Had you forgotten Lola Pearce dated Peter Beale in EastEnders?
A reminder of the pair's (brief) romantic history
There was a blast from the past for Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold) in EastEnders on Thursday 27th February when she was reunited with old flame Peter Beale (Dayle Hudson). Yes, we did say old flame - if you'd forgotten they even dated it's because it's barely been mentioned since it happened.
When buff Ben Hardy was introduced as the latest incarnation of Peter back in 2013 the Beale boy became an instant heart-throb and caught the eye of Billy Mitchell's gobby long-lost granddaughter, then a teenage tearaway who had come to live with her Pops in 2011 having grown up in care.
The unlikely romantic union was Romeo and Juliet territory as their feuding families hardly saw eye-to-eye, with snobby Ian not relishing the idea of his blue-eyed boy cosying up to a mouthy Mitchell, who was also a single teenage mum to baby Lexi born the previous year.
It got pretty serious and Peter even moved in with Lola, but they were never that well suited and Lo grew closer to Jay Brown and told him her high-achieving Beale boyfriend made her feel like a second class citizen half the time.
Mixed signals led to Jay trying to kiss Lola for the first time and she ended up storming off and getting run over by Ronnie Mitchell (RIP). Not exactly a good omen for that relationship, but still…
After Lucy Beale's shocking murder in 2014, Lola struggled to support Peter through the grief he felt for his twin sister and the couple hit the rocks - not helped when Lola spoke to the Walford Gazette about the case, and Peter accused her of selling stories for money.
The romance rumbled on for a bit but eventually fizzled out, with Peter drifting back into the arms of ex Lauren Branning and dumping Lola after confessing he kissed the bolshy brunette - and that was that. Peter and Lauren eventually had baby Louie, Lola ricocheted between Jay and Dexter Hartman (remember him?) who she eventually left Walford with, until returning with Lexi and baby daddy Ben Mitchell in April 2019.
She's now back with Jay, which feels right, but there's an unexpected development next week that threatens their future happiness - as she and Jay worry about Ben's hearing loss after the boat accident, Lola has a bombshell and some very big decisions to make.
Could tonight's frisson between Lola and the new-look Peter pave the way for a love triangle with Jay? Throw a possible surprise return from Lauren into the mix and we've got ourselves an explosive storyline…
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