EastEnders fans were left reeling after Nancy Carter (Maddy Hill) revealed that the father of the baby she is carrying is her brother Lee (Danny Hatchard).
Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), who has longed to become a grandmother, was bowled over to find out that Nancy — who returned to the Square in secret — was pregnant as she tracked her down at the hospital. Nancy, however, made it clear she was not in the mood for her mother's questioning, particularly regarding who the father is, and sent her packing.
Shock revelation at the B&B
Unable to keep her thoughts to herself, Linda speculated about Nancy's pregnancy with her mum Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe). Nancy, meanwhile, made a secret phone call, encouraging the person on the other end of the line to come with her as she confronted Linda.
Linda was delighted when Nancy turned up at the B&B with Lee in tow, but her smile soon turned to utter shock when Lee confirmed that he is the baby's father.
Fans react with disbelief
The former landlady of the Queen Vic was not alone in having such a reaction, with fans left reeling at the news, worried that the storyline in question was one of incest.
'Eastenders doing an incest story now?,' wrote user Rukks on X, formerly known as Twitter, a sentiment echoed by fellow fan Nico. JT, meanwhile, added: 'Omg incest in the square', while Bradley offered up another possible route the storyline could take: 'This has to be surrogacy. If they go down the incest route it will be a disaster'.
Despite how things looked at the end of the episode, some EastEnders fans were quick to predict that — instead of a controversial incest storyline — the likelihood is that Nancy is a surrogate for brother Lee.
As longtime show viewers will know, Nancy made clear in the past that she does not want children, and thus this theory seems more in line with her characterisation.
'I think it's a surrogate situation', said Metro user Jan of the shock cliffhanger, while Nick asked: 'A surrogacy surely?'. Solar added: 'I hope it's surrogacy and not…well….yk'.
What happens next
Linda finds out the whole truth in tomorrow's episode. And hoping that being honest with her children will encourage them to open up about what's going on, the matriarch comes clean about her romance with Max Branning (Jake Wood).
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One or streams from 6am on BBC iPlayer.
