EastEnders fans took to Twitter in a panic on Tuesday as the cast were spotted filming a funeral close to their BBC1 studios. Avid viewers were concerned that Whitney Dean, played by Shona McGarty, might not survive her current storyline. One viewer wrote, "I’m very worried. Nobody’s seen shona in a while & today EastEnders was filming a possible funeral.... Whitney better be (OK)!! #EastEnders," while another said, "Watching Whitney with all these rumours about her future at the moment makes me really sad".
Whitney and "Halfway" just got engaged... but will everything work out?
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The character is currently in the middle of a dramatic storyline, with her partner Callum "Halfway" Highway (Tony Clay) having asked her to marry him even though he's secretly gay. While she's happily making wedding plans, she has no idea about his sexuality or the fact that just before he proposed, he got drunk and cheated on her with Ben Mitchell, played by Max Bowden. Could things between them deteriorate to the point that they become deadly, or is someone else's life in the balance? The Sun reports that the BBC response to viewers' concerns was "no comment".
Fans are worried that Whitney won't survive her current storyline
If the wedding actually goes ahead, it would be Whitney's second ill-fated marriage – she was previously married to Lee Carter – and her third engagement. She briefly dated barman Woody Woodward, played by Lee Ryan from boyband Blue, and the pair made plans to move to Spain together before he left her at the last minute.
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Whatever happens to Whitney, we know that her adoptive mum Bianca Jackson will be returning to Albert Square. Patsy Palmer, the actress who plays her, is reviving the role, which means a temporary return to London from sun-soaked Los Angeles, where she now lives with her family. The 47-year-old starred in the show from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2008 to 2014, making Bianca one of its best-known and most-loved characters, not least for her chemistry with Sid Owen, who played her on-off love interest Ricky.
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