Well, that was one of EastEnders' doof-doof moments of 2015… The little girl Masood (Nitin Ganatra) photographed and showed to Shirley as their granddaughter is not related to them at all
Their grandchild, Jade - Shabnam (Rakhee Thakrar) and Dean’s daughter - is another little girl living in the same house - and she’s not at all well. She has cystic fibrosis.
Friday night’s EastEnders ended with Shirley (Linda Henry) bursting into the house and telling the man who answered the door that she was there for her granddaughter, who’s in foster care…
“Jade?” Shirley said, to the child on the sofa.
Then another girl appeared, wearing a nebuliser to help her breathe, and told Shirley: “She’s not Jade, I am.”
Shirley was prepared for an emotional meeting with the child but she got the shock of her life when the little girl appeared.
Shirley knew immediately what the nebuliser meant… She struggled with son Jimbo’s cystic fibrosis and, in the end, walked out on him and his father, Kevin Wicks (Phil Daniels).
CF Aware confirmed through Twitter that they are working with EastEnders on the cystic fibrosis storyling…
“We've been working hard with excellent @bbceastenders team on this, and grateful to them for this opportunity!” CF Aware tweeted on Friday night, after the episode aired.
Will Shirley see Jade as her way of making up for abandoning Jimbo?
Or will she walk away again…and take Dean (Matt Di Angelo) with her?
EastEnders continues on BBC1, Monday, June 15, 8.00pm.
