EastEnders fans baffled by Alfie Moon’s forgotten brain tumour storyline

Alfie Moon begs Kat Slater not to marry Phil Mitchell in EastEnders
EastEnders fans are confused by a forgotten Alfie Moon storyline. (Image credit: BBC)

Since EastEnders favourite Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) made his explosive comeback to the Square, chaos has ensued for the Mitchell and Slater families.

Last night’s episode (Wednesday, September 14) saw Alfie ruin his ex-wife Kat Slater’s (Jessie Wallace) wedding day to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) after stranding both him and Kat on his boat.

With Phil seemingly jilted at the altar, the wedding guests left and a desperate Kat jumped into the lake in a bid to get to the church herself.

However, Alfie reluctantly took Kat to the church after the boat started up again, where he confessed his undying love for Kat after all these years.

But, as havoc unfolded, fans have been distracted by the fact that the producers seemed to have forgotten that Alfie was supposedly dying from a brain tumour that he was diagnosed with in 2015.

Alfie kept his diagnosis a secret from Kat as he didn’t want to ruin his and Kat’s happy ending when they were planning to move to Spain.

Shane Richie has played Walford's Alfie Moon for 20 years!

Alfie was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2015. (Image credit: BBC)

In EastEnders spin-off Redwater, which saw Kat and Alfie go to Ireland to try and find Kat’s long lost son, Luke, Alfie told Kat the devastating news about his health.

At the time, Shane revealed to HuffPost UK that we would be seeing a different side to the usually cheeky chappie Alfie amid his health battle.

He said: “It does get worse… and you see Alfie, through the series, slowly deteriorate and question his own mortality. And that’s where it becomes, at times, a little bit dark and somewhat religious as well.

“He kind of looks for a meaning of life and that’s something that we’ve never seen Alfie do in EastEnders.

“Alfie constantly wears his heart on his sleeve, there’s always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but we see a different side of Alfie, where we may lose him.”

However, it turns out that tests in 2016 confirmed that Alfie’s tumour was benign and not malignant.

Fans couldn't help but voice their confusion about the seemingly forgotten storyline from years ago, despite the intense wedding scenes occurring in the soap... 

EastEnders continues tonight at 7:30pm on BBC One.

Grace Morris
Staff Writer

Grace is a freelancer writer with WhatToWatch.com, and she now writes for our sister site TechRadar. She graduated from Anglia Ruskin University in 2020 with a degree in Writing and Film Studies, which only made her love for creative writing, film and TV grow stronger.

You'll usually find her watching the drama unfold in the latest reality series or much-loved UK soaps (usually with chocolate by her side!). She's an expert in EastEnders, Emmerdale, Coronation Street and everything reality-related from Selling Sunset and Married At First Sight UK to 90 Day Fiancé UK. Plus Netflix megahit Virgin River!

Grace also likes to explore new places with her friends and family and, of course, watch and read about the latest films and TV series.