Ryder Hawkins (Felix Uff) has been cruelly attacked because of his sexuality – with a sickening EastEnders twist seeing the incident orchestrated by his own father Ned (Jamie Bamber).
Last week, Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington) thought that Ryder could benefit from some downtime away from Ned. While they ate lunch at the box park, she noticed a notification from a gay dating app appear on his phone, and quickly locked the device so that he couldn't see she'd discovered his secret.
The following day, Ryder sat alone in the Square Gardens and glanced through his phone. Nicola approached and asked what his plans for the day were. He said that he had a date, and when asked whether it was with someone she knew, he asserted that his aunt had "never met ".
The comment took Nicola by surprise, and later that day she was stunned to see him with a girl, Alice, in the bar. What she didn't realise was that Ryder had met this girl just moments earlier in the park, and that he'd chosen to ignore the man he'd been chatting to online.
Later, when Alice left, Ryder walked into the office and asked to speak to his auntie. It was clear what he wanted to speak to her about, and she asked him outright if he is gay. He confirmed that nobody else in the family knew, and she tried to assure him that his mum Gemma (Patricia Potter) would be OK with it.
The stumbling block, however, would be Ned. To make matters worse, that evening, he witnessed his son kissing a man in the Square Gardens.
This week kicked off with the arrival of Ryder's old footy mate, who claimed that he was in the area and wanted to gauge his interest in a coaching position at the club. Ryder had reservations, knowing about the disgusting treatment one of his fellow players received upon coming out.
It later transpired that Ned was behind the 'random' visit, and was trying to use it as a way to get his son to conform to a heterosexual life.
Ned was also getting himself involved in another drama – having witnessed Mark Fowler (Stephen Aaron-Sipple) and Lauren Beale's (Jacqueline Jossa) affair. He went on to ask Mark for a favour, threatening to expose what he knew if his demands weren't met.
Mark was stunned to hear that Ned wanted him to assault Ryder, in the hope that it would prevent him from coming out.
Unfortunately, in today's episode, Lauren urged her lover to comply so that her marriage to Peter Beale (Thomas Law) wasn't destroyed by the revelation. Ryder was enjoying drinks with Josh Goodwin (Joshua Vaughan) at The Prince Albert, though had stepped outside to call Gemma.
When their conversation ended, Mark came from behind wearing a balaclava and a fight ensued. Ryder retaliated, though ultimately ended up badly beaten and injured on the ground.
He then returned home, and while crying into his mum and dad's arms, Ned made the suggestion that he was targeted because he was drinking in a gay bar.
Will Ned be caught out, and is this the end of his influence over Mark?
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