Next week on 'EastEnders': Janine's big return revealed, Shirley attacks Phil, plus Jean's drugs shame (spoilers)

The reason for Janine’s much-hyped reappearance is revealed…but will she end up sparking a major disaster? Plus Jean is under pressure and Linda’s worries mount.

It’s your spoiler-filled guide to a high-profile week on EastEnders covering 6-10 September 2021.

Janine’s big return!

With EastEnders lagging behind rivals Corrie and Emmerdale in the ratings, the BBC must be hoping that Charlie Brooks’s comeback as Janine will reignite viewer interest.

Her return is tied to Kat’s appearance at the courthouse, where she’s informing the social worker that she wants to become Scarlett’s carer as it’s for the best if she never sees her real mum again.

But just as the hearing is about to begin, Janine bursts in and gives what appears to be a heartfelt testimony about how she’s now redeemed herself. Later on, we’ll also see Janine rocking up at the Queen Vic and telling the locals what she thinks of them – an outburst that leaves Kat ever-more determined to get Scarlett away from her unpredictable mother.

Read more: Next week on Coronation Street

Read more: Next week on Emmerdale

But events move on in dramatic fashion when Scarlett vanishes, and Kat and Janine are left frantically trying to work out where she might have gone. And by the week’s end, it’s cunning Janine who’s figured out the truth: that Tommy has been hiding Scarlett upstairs at his house.

But a scuffle results in Scarlett’s jumper landing on a lit hob and, as the flames start to rise, fans will be left in little doubt that this fracas will end up being the cause of the incendiary stunt that cast members were recently pictured filming at EastEnders’s Elstree studios…

Jean’s drugs nightmare

Jean has now returned to the Square and she soon realises that Ruby hasn’t told Martin the truth about the reasons for Stacey’s incarceration. And by Friday, Jean will be seen telling the worried nightclub owner that she’s putting Martin in the picture that very day.

But Jean may well find herself having to rethink her plan as an even bigger problem has emerged – in the weeks she’s been away, the marijuana she left in the garage hasn’t died as she’d hoped. In fact, it’s now flourished and become a huge tropical drugs den!

In the end, Linda calls on the help of Shirley, someone who feels she’s in desperate need of cash, what with her having received a text supposedly from Tina (in reality, it’s Gray who’s sent the message) pleading for money.

Soon enough, the pair have cooked up a scheme – but it’s one that may well unravel after Shirley vents her anger at Phil over what’s happened to Tina and attacks him with a baseball bat. And then there’s Ruby, who soon starts sniffing out Jean’s deceit…

Linda’s pregnancy panic

After Vi makes a passing comment about Linda looking big for how far along she is with her pregnancy, Rainie’s mind starts working overtime.

Wondering whether the Queen Vic landlady has been telling lies, Rainie later pops round to the Vic and asks for a cuppa, only to then go rooting through Linda’s bag when her back is turned.

By Friday, we’ll see the pub dressed for a Pride event, but Linda is distracted and confides her worries in Mick, who reckons that if Rainie had worked out that Max was the father of the baby, they’d all know about it. But what the Carters haven’t reckoned on is Jack then showing up demanding to know the truth.