Steven Beale’s shocking lie to fiance Lauren Branning that he has a brain tumour has fans of the soap in uproar.
But the latest twist in the tale has seen Max Branning, Lauren’s own father, not only back Steven up, but take things even further by revealing his son-in-law-to-be only has three months to live.
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As the cogs start turning as to how they’re going to pull this one off when Steven actually doesn’t die in three months, speculation is now rife that this is all part of Max’s dastardly plot and he is, in fact, going to KILL Steven. Wow, that’s dark.
Viewers became convinced that’s where the plot was going when Max stepped in to help Steven with his lie, despite the fact the baffling Branning had earlier been seen telling Steven his deceit was sickening and demanding he come clean to Lauren.
They’d been at the hospital where Lauren had insisted on accompanying Steven to see a specialist. But using his accomplice Abi Branning to call Lauren away, Steven thought he’d got away with it scot-free until Max turned up, having been called by Lauren.
As Max exposed the Beale boy for what he was, he laid into him for using something other people have genuinely had to suffer to further his own gains.
But when they returned back to the Beales’ with Steven all ready to ‘fess up, Max stepped in and told Lauren her fiance only had three months to live.
Even Steven looked surprised and was probably wondering what the rest of us were: how were they going to explain themselves three months from now?
Viewers on Twitter are convinced they’ve cracked it though and are sure Max is going to do away with Steven one way or another.
It’s a pretty scary thought, but they’re going to have to come up with something. If Steven’s still fit and well come November, Lauren’s going to get suspicious.
So far though, she has no idea her other half is lying to her after he blurted out that he had the disease to stop her leaving him and going to New Zealand.
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She’s determined to stand by him (because why would she think for even a second he’d be lying about something like this?), and doesn’t suspect her dad’s complicit nor her sister, Abi, is in on the whole plot, as Abs believes she’s going to get Steven for herself at the end of it all.
Fans are absolutely horrified with the whole storyline, sickened that Steven could tell such a horrible lie, and they’ve made no secret of their disgust on Twitter, with one calling it “disrespectful” and another saying Max and Steven are both “snakes’.
Just how much longer this goes on for depends on incoming producer John Yorke.
Let’s hope he rips up the scripts and puts an end to this disgusting deceit before it escalates even further.