Walford has been rocked once again after Thursday’s early iPlayer episode of EastEnders (July 2) saw Bea Pollard dramatically turn on Billy Mitchell, leaving him facing a murder accusation after a shocking set-up.
The drama kicked off when the police arrived in response to reports of a ‘serious assault,’ only for it to quickly dawn on Honey that Bea had orchestrated the whole thing to stitch Billy up.
Panicked by what she realised, Honey immediately set out to track Billy down so she could warn him before things spiralled even further out of control.
Honey starts to see Bea’s true colours in EastEnders
Back in Walford, Honey made it clear to Bea that she wasn’t prepared to cut Billy out of her life entirely, reminding her that he is the father of her children and always will be.
Tensions rose further when Will told Bea she was no longer welcome in the family home. Trying to smooth things over, Honey reluctantly agreed to let Bea cook a beef dinner for everyone that evening, though her doubts were clearly growing after she later came across a damaged crochet doll.
Meanwhile at the Minute Mart, Honey confided in Nicola about her concerns over Bea’s so-called cleansing ritual. The situation took another odd turn when Zoe arrived and revealed that Billy had updated his social media status to single. He then began using unusually elaborate French phrases to express his desire for love, something that did not go unnoticed given Bea’s own habit of speaking in a similarly flowery way.
The more Honey pieced things together, the clearer it became that those closest to her had been right about Bea all along. Taking Billy’s advice, she went to meet one of Bea’s old friends, Ruth, who finally gave her the full picture.
Ruth explained how Bea had once become her closest friend, before attempting to come between her and her husband and slowly inserting herself into their marriage breakdown. According to Ruth, Bea was always the one to step in and comfort her during emotional moments.
But things soon took a darker turn when Bea began pulling away, eventually escalating to a shocking incident where she set fire to the house, injuring both Ruth and Sam in the process, and even leading to the loss of their dog in the blaze.
Bea frames Billy for murder in early iPlayer release
Back at the house, Bea got to work preparing the planned beef dinner when Billy arrived, leading to a heated confrontation between the pair. During the struggle, the meal ended up on the floor and Bea cut her hand.
In the aftermath, Bea warned Billy that Honey was too ‘sweet’ to believe Ruth’s ‘twisted’ version of events. She then became increasingly unhinged, shouting that life was not ‘fair’ and insisting that ‘bad things should happen to bad people, not the other way round.’
The situation escalated further when Bea slapped Billy, prompting him to walk away and tell her he would leave things in the hands of the police.
Officers then arrived following reports of a serious assault. Blood from the incident was smeared across the area, and Bea was gone without trace.
With police now searching for Billy in connection with what had happened, Honey and Nicola eventually found him at the Boxing Den, where he had been hiding the children to keep them safe from Bea.
It was there that Honey made a chilling realisation, telling Billy that Bea had gone far further than anyone expected. She had set him up and framed him for her own murder.