EastEnders' Stacey attempts to frame evil Dean Wicks in tense early BBC iPlayer release

The BBC One soap has seen The Six struggling since Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) killed Keanu at Christmas to save best friend Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and covered up his death and their involvement ever since.

Now the body has been discovered and Sharon arrested on suspicion of Keanu's murder, the women prepared to make potential deals to save themselves should they be in danger, with Linda even offering to give herself up.

However, amid the ongoing evil actions of rapist Dean - including against his daughter Jade Masood (Elizabeth Green) - Stacey had an idea and approached Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) to obtain the murder weapon - the meat thermometer.

Tuesday's episode ended with Stacey visiting Dean at his flat to talk before he leaves the country with Jade, but with the murder weapon hidden under her coat.

On Wednesday's episode, Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) sits in the Vic upstairs kitchen with Kathy, Linda, and Linda's son Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff) and suggests making an anonymous tip-off to aid Stacey's plan.

Kathy convinces the others that Stacey saw an opportunity and took it, with Linda noting that Stacey has always had her back when it came to Dean, going back to 2014. Linda went to call but Stacey was already at Dean’s.

In the flat, Dean was suspicious that Stacey had come to speak to him and recalled their past romantic history before she rejected him. Dean suspected Stacey of spying on his treatment of Jade for Jean. Dean then briefly left the room to get Jade and Stacey took her chance to plant the meat thermometer among his cutlery and utensils.

After this, Stacey said goodbye to Jade before leaving following a cold goodbye from Dean - who didn't notice the meat thermometer.

In the Vic, Kathy and Suki agreed that the latter should make the phone tip-off away from the Square, but Linda was uncomfortable and also disliked Dean being punished for something he didn’t do as opposed to his raping her back in 2014.

Kathy reminded Linda that justice will never be served through the legal system for what he did to her and he also got away with sexually assaulting Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) and who knows who else. Suki also mentioned the accusations about Dean risking Jade’s welfare by tampering with her life-saving medication and then blaming Jean.

Johnny approves of protecting Sharon and Linda, plus taking Dean off the streets. Suki and Kathy also justify Linda’s killing of Keanu as protecting Sharon and she doesn’t deserve to be punished for that.

Amid the debate, Stacey arrived at the Vic to tell the others that she had planted the weapon. After this, they all read the tip-off conceived by Johnny and approve of it and how it fits with their statements.

In response, Linda argued that someone should make a statement in person about seeing Dean at the cafe on Christmas night but Johnny noted that would put that person at risk - so Linda volunteered. Kathy doubted Linda’s ability to do so well, while Johnny suggested that the police would tear Linda’s motives apart due to her closeness to Sharon and her history with Dean. After these arguments, Linda agreed that a phone call should be made.

Later, Linda was outside the Vic when Dean approached her and she asked him if he was leaving Walford and he said she was finally getting what she wanted. Linda then told Dean to look after his daughter but he responded: "At least I’ll be around to look after my daughter. I bet your liver’s taking a beating, can you say the same?" After this, Dean smugly said goodbye to a disgusted Linda, referring to her by Mick’s nickname for her, "L".

As the episode neared its conclusion, Kathy, Suki, Stacey, and Johnny prepared to travel far away enough for Suki to make the anonymous tip-off. However, a call to Johnny from Linda revealed she had decided to make the statement herself as a scene showed her sitting in the police station.

In tomorrow's episode, Linda delivers her fabricated story about the night Keanu died, but the police question why she hid this information for so long.

Can Linda pull this off and successfully frame Dean? Or has she opened the door to another set of problems for The Six?

Anyone affected by Linda's story can find support by visiting Rape Crisis, or calling their 24/7 Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Line on 0808 500 2222.

Read more:

• EastEnders announces sexual assault storyline for Yolande Trueman with flashback scenes
• 7 EastEnders spoilers next week: Yolande's ordeal and Lucy Beale death anniversary
• EastEnders' Angela Wynter reveals importance of Yolande's dark new story
• EastEnders schedules hour-long episode amid Lucy Beale death anniversary
• EastEnders airs tearjerking final scenes for iconic couple in early BBC iPlayer release
• EastEnders’ Ben Mitchell exit was saved by emotional final scene
• EastEnders cast: Who is joining, leaving and returning to the soap?

EastEnders normally airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Visit our dedicated EastEnders page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.