Evie leaves EastEnders after confessing all to the police?
Tiff's drug dealer drama results in a departure from Walford
EastEnders' Tiffany Butcher (Maisie Smith) is heartbroken after Evie Steele (Sophia Capasso) was forced to leave Walford on Friday 29 March after she finally told the police the truth about the drug trafficking ring that had left the girls fearing for their lives.
The dramatic episode picked up from the previous cliffhanger where Evie was found close to death after a beating from the sinister gang who she and Tiff owed money to. Runaway Tiff had brought Evie back to Albert Square looking for cash to pay off their debt but an intervention from her concerned family prevented the girls from leaving leading to the attack.
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While Evie recovering from her injuries in hospital shaken Tiff opened up to uncle Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) about how she was initially groomed by charismatic Evie and the gang who took the disenfranchised teenager under their wing and forced her into delivering drugs, only for things to sour when the mob turned on both of them and they were subjected to physical violence.
Who convinced Evie to dob the gang in and leave Walford?
Ex-cop Jack persuaded Evie to break the cycle by giving police the names of the people involved in exchange for protection. Initially reluctant fearing reprisals, Evie said she'd rather be dead than betray the gang and risk her safety, but Jack and Tiff eventually got through to he and she agreed to help expose the network of 'county lines' traffickers, the name given to gangs who use children to deliver from cities to rural areas outside their patch.
In an emotional farewell, and at the end of a compelling week praised by fans for outstanding work from the cast, tearful Tiff saw Evie driven off by the boys in blue knowing her friend had sacrificed everything to try and bring the dealers to justice, while Jack, big sister Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) and auntie Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) comforted the traumatised teen.
With Tiffany safely back home, what is in store for the schoolgirl after her ordeal with the dealers? Will there be long-term consequences for what she's been through? Can her family stop Tiffany pushing them away? And is this the last we've seen of Evie, or is Tiff's obsession with her doomed groomer too strong for her to let the girl go?
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