BBC Share By Kerry Barrett Oct 11 2025 By Kerry Barrett Oct 11 2025 EastEnders review: Joel brutally attacked Vicki and Ben returned to Albert Square Joel's shocking assault on Vicki was hard to watch Ben Mitchell Features Joel Marshall Vicki Fowler Share By Kerry Barrett Oct 11 2025 By Kerry Barrett Oct 11 2025 It’s a mixed EastEnders review today, because this week’s show started off a bit of a slog, and ended with one of the best episodes of EastEnders we’ve seen in a while . We began with the surprisingly tedious return of Ben Mitchell – briefly – and the exhausting continuation of the drug dealing storyline with Teddy taking on Ravi. And we ended with the shocking ramping up of Joel’s misogyny, which was a difficult but gripping watch with what we think will be some award-winning performances. So here’s what we thought of all the action in our EastEnders review. Handcuffed Ben arrived but it wasn’t very exciting (Credit: BBC) Ben returned in our EastEnders review We were quite excited to hear Ben Mitchell was coming back, but the whole thing felt a bit flat to us. The trouble was, we just didn’t really care. Article continues below Read all the latest spoilers We don’t care about Callum’s homophobic dad being dead, Johnny and Callum have no chemistry so we don’t care about them either. Plus, Ben did tell Callum not to wait for him, so it’s a bit unfair to get cross when he did exactly what he told him to do. We were pleased to be reminded that we still hate Stuart, mind you. We enjoyed Ben’s little dig about him buying babies, though. And we liked when Ben said he hadn’t killed anyone, and Stuart muttered “this time”. Who’s the scariest baddie? (Credit: BBC) Teddy took on Ravi We’re still struggling to keep up with the drug dealing story, that we can’t help thinking of as ‘who’s the baddie’ because it’s hard to know who we should be rooting for. Well, Kojo, obviously, is our man, but the rest of it is just a baffling spiral of bad men making other people do bad things. BUT we’re quite pleased that Teddy’s involved now. It seems that Ravi came out on top this time, as Kojo stumbled on the hidden camera and thought George was responsible. We’re hoping there’s more twists to come in this tale, because it’s all a bit boring. Is it weird that we think softly spoken Teddy, with his pastel sweaters is more scary than Ravi? Relations began to thaw between Eve and Suki (Credit: BBC) Suki and Eve So Suki and Eve are looking at adoption because Eve, who never wanted kids is now desperate to be a mum/ This is a bad idea, right? Suki is – as Priya pointed out – a terrible mother. One of her children is dead because of her, one is in prison, and one lives in Canada. Not a ringing endorsement. Plus we hate to point it out, but neither woman is in the first flush of youth. That’s not going to stop them adopting of course, but it makes everything a bit harder. What we actually think would be excellent for Suki and Eve as a couple, and for us as viewers, would be for them to foster. Joel attacked Vicki (Credit: BBC) Joel took it all too far And so we get to the final episode of the week, when Joel’s misogyny turned physical. It was a slightly quirky episode, starting with Amy racing through the Square, upset and angry about something that had happened at school. At first, it felt like we’d missed something but we quickly realised that it was more about the responses to the ‘incident’ than the incident itself. It was cleverly handled with many of the adults minimising what Joel had done, while the teens struggled to explain. It was especially nice to see the younger actors being given a moment in the spotlight. Ellie Dadd, who plays Amy, Aaliyah James who plays Avani and Freddie Phillips – Will – were all great in those scenes. Meanwhile, Kat and Alfie were trying to deal with Tommy. Though Alfie was mostly dealing with it by throwing his hands up and saying he didn’t know what to do. Nice one, Alfie. Tommy was nasty. His words were worrying and cruel, and Kat was hurt. But she kept a clear head, telling Alfie they had to have a hundred conversations with their son about his dangerous views. Actor Sonny Kendall, who plays troubled Tommy, was so good in these scenes. As was Max Marshall, who plays Joel. It’s a big story for a young actor to take on but he absolutely nailed it. First Joel’s dad Ross lost his temper. He said some cruel things to Joel that didn’t help anything. And then he left, which was really not helpful. A brutal beating in our EastEnders review With Joel alone with stepmum Vicki, things got worse. As Vicki gave Joel a piece of her mind, he snapped. He whacked poor Vicki across the face, sending her sprawling on the floor. And then he got out his phone and filmed her, as he continued his brutal attack. This story has built from small beginnings to a very shocking turn of events. It’s being handled very carefully, but bluntly, and it doesn’t shy away from the details. It’s not easy to watch, but it’s important and gripping. We’re keen to see what happens in next week’s episodes. Read more: Who’s leaving, joining and returning to EastEnders? Complete list of cast exits, arrivals and returns. Share Good to Know Share By Kerry Barrett Oct 11 2025 By Kerry Barrett Oct 11 2025
