Craig Ingram (Matthew James Bailey) has taken shocking action in Wednesday's (October 14) episode of EastEnders, blackmailing Denzel Danes (Jaden Ladega) with an intimate picture he stole from Amy Mitchell's (Ellie Dadd) phone.
The corrupt detective, who was suspended and sacked following a gross misconduct investigation over 'inappropriate relationships', has been grooming teen Amy – daughter of ex-colleague Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) – for months. Claiming he kept quiet about her role in the attack on Joel Marshall (Max Murray) to protect her, Craig insisted Amy rely on him for everything she needs from here on out, manipulating her into thinking he had her best interests at heart.
Craig's twisted scheme unfolds
Earlier this week, Amy invited Lily (Lillia Turner) to Craig's flat, unaware that Denzel and the others would soon descend upon the property. Keeping Craig's identity a secret, she ushered them out of the flat before departing, cleaning the place spotless to ensure the former detective was unaware of anyone else's presence in his home.
Denzel, however, dropped his pass on the sofa. Craig found it in subsequent scenes and quizzed Amy on who else she had in the flat. Amy claimed only Lily had visited, with Craig quietly seething as he knew Denzel had stopped by too.
When Craig revealed that he knew about Denzel, Amy was quick to defend herself, reiterating that she didn't know Lily had invited the other teens. In a bid to prove her loyalty, she handed her phone to Craig, assuring him that nothing was going on between her and Denzel.
Blackmail and confrontation
But as the mobile device changed hands, Denzel texted Amy a shirtless picture, having been encouraged to do so by Nugget (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) in a bid to win back his ex.
Amy insisted that she never asked Denzel to send the image in question, and Craig ultimately believed her – but he told her to play along as he used her device to reply to Denzel, suggesting that he send more pictures. After a conversation with Nugget, Denzel proceeded to send intimate photographs to Amy.
Amy pleaded with Craig to drop this twisted scheme, and he assured her that he would – but little did she know that he'd texted Denzel's private photo from her phone to his, which he then used to blackmail Denzel into giving him cash.
Upon receiving the threatening message, Denzel was appalled and confronted Amy, who was evidently shaken by the cruelty of Craig's actions. She claimed her phone had been stolen, assuring Denzel that this was nothing to do with her.
The question is: can she stop Craig from releasing Denzel's image? Or will Craig follow through with his sickening plan?
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One or streams from 6am on BBC iPlayer.
