Given that she knows everything that he’s up to, the last thing Max Branning needs is for Jane Beale to wake from her coma.
But when the doctors decide to bring her round this week, Max is forced to go to desperate lengths to silence her.
Jane found out that Max was plotting revenge on the whole Square, and not wanting to get his hands dirty Max ordered Steven Beale to deal with her.
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Steven, who was faking a brain tumour that Jane also knew about, set fire to Beales’ restaurant with a helpless Jane inside.
But when he had an attack of conscience and wanted to save her, Max lashed out, and pushed Steven, causing him to hit his stomach and that was the injury that then killed him.
Sad though that might have been, for Max is was one less little problem to worry about. And he thought he’d sorted Jane too by leaving her to perish in the fire.
However when he saw Jane being wheeled into the hospital, he realised he would have to stay very close to her in case she woke up.
He’s since been Ian Beale’s rock, sitting by Jane’s bedside with the worried husband, and oozing concern with his Mr Nice Guy act.
But when Jane’s brought round next week, Max needs to know how much she can remember.
He manages to get Ian out of the way for a while, and when Jane opens her eyes, the first person she sees is Max. It’s fair to say she’s instantly uneasy being alone with him.
The Branning baddie can see she’s unsettled and turns intimidating – will he manage to silence her for good?
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He is seen handing her a glass of water in one picture released by the soap, leading to some speculation he might have put something in it in an attempt to poison her.
He’s already tried to crush her breathing tube so she never woke up, but that failed, so could he be trying to murder her again?
Has Max really got it in him?