Max Branning (Jake Wood) is thrown into a panic in EastEnders next week as his secret affair with Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan-Levy) edges closer to being revealed. The Walford resident has been sneaking around behind fiancée Cindy Beale’s (Michelle Collins) back with his car lot employee, who was seeking excitement after being dumped by Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).
Jean’s discovery and a close call
Recent scenes saw Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) stumble upon the affair. Despite warning Priya about Max’s ways, she agreed to keep quiet, believing that cruel Cindy’s feelings are not worth worrying about. But while Max and Priya have managed to keep a lid on Jean, they come close to outing themselves when they hook up once again.
Max arranges to meet Priya after finding himself getting jealous about his former flame Linda Carter’s (Kellie Bright) blossoming romance with local councillor Clive Masters (Jason Durr). After he picks up their daughter Annie so Linda and Clive can go on a date, a moment between him and Linda indicates that feelings are still there, but they avoid addressing it. Max being Max, he then buries these feelings by having sex with Priya at her flat.
Panic on the morning of Cindy’s hen do
The following morning, it’s the day of Cindy’s hen do, and Max wakes up in Priya’s bed having overslept. He flies into a panic after spotting multiple missed calls from Cindy, before running into her at the café, where he makes up an excuse as to why he didn’t come home the night before, which Cindy apparently buys into.
But with Cindy having previously been suspicious of Max and Priya, could she be playing a very long game before enacting the ultimate revenge on her cheating fiancé?
EastEnders airs these scenes from Monday 17th August at 7.30pm on BBC One or stream first from 6am on iPlayer.
