Welcome to the week ahead! And it’s really not Ballum’s week…
Mon 16th Aug – Richard Davidson
Ben regrets his business decision. News spreads that Kheerat is now joint partner at The Arches and Suki is not pleased. Jay also warns Kheerat to be more of a silent partner.
Tues 17th Aug – Richard Davidson
Callum is concerned about Kheerat being so involved in the business. Ben also quickly becomes frustrated when Kheerat announces that he has done a deal for some new business. With tensions already mounting over how to run The Arches, Ben announces that he wants out.
Later, Ben decides to apologise to Kheerat, just as a police car arrives. Who do they want to speak to?
Thurs 19th Aug – Madeleine Clifford
No Ballum spoilers
Fri 20th Aug – Celia Morgan
Peter checks up on Lola and she shares an update on Isaac. However, Peter soon lets slip that Ben put him up to this. Later, Lola confronts Ben about his meddling.
In a shocking turn of events, Ben is regretting his decision to make Kheerat a partner in the Arches. It’s not a decision anyone likes, actually. Suki will be having a go at Kheerat about it I assume; and even Jay has something to say about it – he warns Kheerat about being a silent partner, something we also saw Ben do on Friday. I guess he’s thinking the same about Phil’s reaction to Ben selling half his inheritance (though he’d have a cheek to care after taking away the dodgy business that was keeping it going – business I assume Ben helped him get – and then refusing to help). I also think it might be important that this deal between Ben and Kheerat is legit, made with clean money. If it goes through the proper channels then it’s on record that they’re partners, that there’s a connection between them.
Apparently Kheerat doing what he came in to do, to rescue the Arches, gets Ben’s back up. And I guess it’s understandable, with the Arches being his baby. But the heavy involvement worries Callum too. The more involved and integrated Kheerat becomes, the more power he wields over Ben if the truth about Jags comes out. And the betrayal also becomes bigger now that they’re partners.
I wonder if Callum’s also thinking about the official connection that comes with Kheerat buying part of the Arches, in relation to the Simon situation. Unlike Ben and Kheerat’s unofficial dodgy arrangements, this is a line that connects the three of them, meaning they could all go down for the assault on Simon. They can’t pretend they don’t know Kheerat, and Kheerat can’t pretend he doesn’t know the boyfriend of the man Simon killed; because he’s his business partner on paper.
Or maybe not; they clash over how to run the Arches, and Kheerat brings in new business, presumably without Ben’s approval. Ben snaps and says he wants out; which is obviously not true and Ben doesn’t mean it, evidenced by the fact he plans to go back and apologise to Kheerat. But before he can, the police turn up, and it seems likely they’re there for one of the them in connection with Simon’s attack. Let’s assume they are – who are they arresting?
It could be Ben, if they traced the phone call back to him – but I think as he’s the one who wanted to assault Simon, it won’t be him. Could be Callum, and I’m sure he’s expecting it to be him, having feared repercussions from looking Simon up on the system and getting his number in the first place. Or it could be Kheerat, who was sure he’d be in the clear with no connection to Ben and Cal… oh. We know how incompetent Walford police are, but the connection there seems pretty clear to me, and it could look very much like Ballum orchestrated the attack on Simon, hiring Kheerat to do it. So whoever is arrested, I’d be surprised if it didn’t have implications for the rest of them. But as I say, it’s Walford police – so who knows.
No Ballum spoilers for Thursday, but I’d place a decent bet on them featuring in the arrest aftermath. And then on Friday, Ben’s back in the Isaac and Lola story, with Lola finding out about what he said to Peter to ensure he tried to talk to her. He can’t catch a break!
In other news, Max and Tony were out to get us last Sunday for Tony’s 30th with some adorable instagram posts. And then Tony provided us a whole gallery of pics from his celebrations! So glad he had a lovely birthday!
Some great news – Rose Ayling-Ellis aka Frankie is doing Strictly this year! If you haven’t watched her sweet interview on set with Emma Barton I’d recommend it. And Max also left this cute comment on her instagram post.
And finally, Max is playing in another Sellebrity charity football match in Horley today! You can watch the livestream at this link from 2.45pm, or if you’re nearby, you can pay on the door like last time. If you’re going, have fun!
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