EastEnders airs horrific Bianca Jackson fate after Reiss Colwell attack in early BBC iPlayer release

The BBC One soap has seen Bianca's mission against sister Sonia's fiancé reach a climax this week as she finally found video proof linking him to the murder of his wife Debbie Colwell and confronted him about it on Wednesday.

Reiss finally admitted to murdering Debbie in a conversation with Bianca, and she vowed to bring him to justice with the evidence against him, prompting a panicked Reiss to smash the laptop Bianca had been viewing it on - destroying the evidence.

An emotional Reiss opened up about his past looking after Debbie and his reasons for killing his comatose wife but refused to come clean, fearing what life would be like in prison for him - despite knowing pregnant Sonia was going to prison for it.

Bianca ordered Reiss to hand himself in and do the right thing, but he suggested they find a way to free Sonia but spare Reiss going to prison too.

Yet, Reiss said he had the murder weapon of Debbie's pillow hidden in a storage facility and he would hand it over to her if she let him flee the country.

Armed with a candlestick to defend herself, Bianca agreed for the sake of Sonia to go along with Reiss's plan.

Accompanying him in the facility, Bianca found it decorated with soundproof insulation, and Reiss admitted that there was no pillow and flew at a screaming Bianca with a metal object and a blanket.

Thursday's episode opened with a frantic Reiss back at Sonia's house with blood on his hands and lugging around a heavy chest, immediately suggesting that Reiss had murdered Bianca and was now attempting to dispose of her body.

Reiss was also sporting a wound of his own on the back of his head, but was soon interrupted by Martin Fowler (James Bye), who had a lot of questions about what Reiss has been doing and noticed his wound, blaming Bianca for all the chaos that had occurred. However, Reiss literally shut out Martin.

Later, Reiss received a visit from DI Callum Highway (Tony Clay) with Martin, and questions were asked about what had occurred with Bianca, while Reiss panicked about hiding the chest in a nearby room.

Reiss said that Bianca had struck him with a candlestick and Martin encouraged him to make a statement, seek medical attention and press charges against Bianca for her violent campaign against him.

Elsewhere, Martin spread word of Bianca's apparent actions around the Square and also revealed that the police had found Bianca's taco van abandoned by a train station, making it look like she had fled the scene of the crime.

As Reiss tried to transfer the chest in his car, an accident occurred when Bianca's uncle Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) crashed into Reiss's with the chest in the boot, but Reiss managed to escape.

Is Bianca Jackson dead in EastEnders?

No. Reiss was shown to return to the storage facility and we saw that Bianca was chained up - alive - in the storage facility.

A furious Bianca threw objects at him and demanded he release her, promising to say nothing.

Reiss then told Bianca that she was a wanted woman who had fled after attacking him.

Bianca asked Reiss how long he planned on keeping her there, and he said that he would wait for Sonia to be released and would not consider any other outcome.

Bianca broke down in tears and Reiss claimed she had nothing to fear as he kept her there, having brought her supplies to live in the facility in the chest he had been moving around.

When Bianca claimed to need the toilet, Reiss said he had ordered a commode for her, but she wanted to go now.

Reiss produced a bucket for her, but when his back was turned, Bianca threw it at him and demanded to be released.

As Bianca railed at her situation, Reiss told her she needed to accept her fate... or else.

When will Bianca be free from murderous Reiss? And when will we see Patsy Palmer back on our screens?

Is Bianca Jackson leaving EastEnders?

Well, technically, yes.

Patsy Palmer was only back for short return stints as Bianca, having initially returned for two stints as part of Whitney Dean's exit story earlier this year.

Bianca returned in September as part of the ongoing Sonia and Reiss storyline but this appears to be writing her out for another spell as Reiss holds Bianca captive until Sonia's court date.

Naturally, this means we can probably expect Patsy Palmer back on-screen as Bianca soon for this storyline to climax, but beyond that, we imagine we can expect a more permanent exit for the character when this concludes.

However, we would adore for Palmer to continue to make recurring appearances as Bianca as the Square is much less fun without her!

Read more:

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EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.

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