Max has already proved he is willing to go the distance when it comes to getting custody of his granddaughter when he married his ex wife’s former drug addict sister, Rainie.
But next week sees Max resort to yet more desperate measures so that he can bring baby Abi home.
With their sham marriage somehow convincing social services that they are the right people to raise little Abi, the next step on the custody battle is getting character references.
But when you’re the most hated man in Walford, that is pretty hard to do.
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Rainie and Max are feeling the pressure, knowing there aren’t many people in Albert Square who would put down on paper that Max is a honest, trustworthy man.
Coming up with a plan, Max helps Masood with baby Harley, thinking that it would out him in the good books and land him a glowing reference.
But when that doesn’t work, it seems Max is back at square one until he corners Karen, saying he will pay her to be his reference.
Needing the £200 cash on offer, Karen agrees. But it seems that even the Taylors have got their morals because when she finds out what Max needs a reference for she tells him where to go.
The next person on Max’s list of people to ask is Carmel. Who better to ask for a character reference than the woman whose heart you broke after you faked a romance with her, and who has also just lost her son.
Unsurprisingly Carmel isn’t feeling that charitable towards Max and tells him where to go, but not before she delivers him some home truths about what she really thinks of him.
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As news travels around Walford that Max went to ask Carmel for a character reference, Max is soon becoming the laughing stock of the Square.
But just as it looks like hope is lost, Rainie has an idea.
There is one person in Walford who doesn’t hate Max as much as everyone else, and that’s Stacey.
But will Max agree with his wife and go to see his ex after everything he’s put her though?
And more to the point, if he does ask Stacey for a reference, will she agree?
EastEnders airs Monday and Friday at 8pm and Tuesday and Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.
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