HOLLYOAKS - Lindsey returns, but is all as it seems?

After going on the run with Freddie Roscoe and even abandoning her baby in the process - Lindsey Butterfield returns to Hollyoaks this week, protesting to her ex and Freddie's brother, Joe, that she is frightened of Freddie and believes he did kill Mercedes McQueen.

We all know that Mercy has been plotting with Grace Black to get Freddie framed, and she's in fact alive and well in France. Joe, too, is now in on the plan - but clever Lindsey is one step ahead of them all at the moment.

After returning to the village, it soon becomes clear that Lindsey and Freddie have concocted a plan to catch Grace out, thinking she's the one who murdered Mercy.
Grace is soon freaked out, thinking that Mercedes is playing games with her, when she receives haunting reminders of her partner in crime.

Joe then tries to warn Grace about some evidence that Lindsey has found, but Lindsey gets to DS Thorpe first and heads to The Loft in order to confront Grace with their findings.

Later, Lindsey tries to convince Theresa and Celine of Grace's guilt but will they believe her?

Jen Metcalfe is soon to return to Hollyoaks as Mercedes, after a bit of a break, so the truth will no doubt unravel. But how?

If Lindsey finds out that Mercy is alive, surely she'll have enough evidence to clear Freddie's name. But wouldn't Grace and Mercy  be charged and sent to prison for faking her death? And that will also implicate Joe - so would Lindsey send her baby's father to prison?

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1000 Heartbeats for Vernon

I'm a dipper when it comes to gameshows. As in I dip in and out. 

I used to watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Deal or No Deal religiously, but over the last couple of years I've lingered away, only watching Deal while at work - it's Channel 4, so is on when it's on!

But this week, Vernon Kay bought a new show to our screens, called 1000 Heartbeats.

It's on at 4pm, which is a shame, as most of us are still at work and I think t's got the gumption to be an 8pm-er - but if you can dip in on it, or grab it on ITV Player, then you must do.

The show is simple. Each contestant battles against the clock to win a cash prize. And that clock is their very own heartbeat. Starting the game with 1000 heartbeats, as they play each round their heart rate is measured in real time: every single beat of their heart makes one of their 1000 heartbeats disappear. So if they panic, they will use up more beats!

The aim of the game is to answer questions and build up as much cash as their 1000 heartbeats will allow - the first round begins with a cash prize of £250 and the maximum to win is £25,000 - but when a player runs out of heartbeats, their game is over.
At any stage of the game, the player can elect to 'Cashout' with what money they have banked so far, but in order to win it, they must complete the Cashout game. Dum, dum, dummmm!

The games in each round are greatly variable. So far, some of the games we've seen are:

Contrast - The player is given 2 answer options (for example, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham), and is then given a statement (e.g. 'Who played the famous number 7 shirt for Manchester United'). The statement will match up with only 1 of the 2 answer options (in the example, the correct answer would be David Beckham). The player must correctly identify 7 statements to complete the round.

Unscramble - The player is given 5 anagrams and a theme that links them together. If the player gets stuck, they can request a clue at a cost of 25 heartbeats.

Assemble - The player will be shown a picture of a celebrity's face. The picture will then be split up into 8 pieces and 5 pieces will be blanked out. To complete the round, the player must place the correct pieces from a selection of 12 into the picture as highlighted by a pulsing blue square and complete the image.

Identify - The player is shown 8 answers, of which only 4 are correct and must identify which 4 are the right ones. The player must give 4 answers and the lights at the bottom of the screen will show how many they have correct, but not which answers are the correct ones. To complete the round, the player must select the 4 correct answers.

Pinpoint - The player is shown an arrangement of coloured balls with numbers inside. The player will then be given a maths question to answer (my nightmare!)
For example 'Multiply the highest ball by the lowest ball' or 'Add the orange balls together'. To complete the round, the player must clear 3 grids, each with 5 questions for a total of 15 questions to answer.

Decipher - The player is shown 5 statements followed by a question. The player must identify which of the 5 statements is correct for 2 questions to complete the round.

It's fun to play along at home, too, and Vernon brings his usual charm and warmth, while the talented Heartbeats Strings quartet bring dramatic, classical backing music as each player enters to face their fate! 

It's my new gameshow addiction - give 1000 Heartbeats a watch - weekdays at 4pm on ITV! 

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HOLLYOAKS - Mercedes is alive, and Joe's deceitful lies...

It feels like an age since I've had a Hollyoaks love-in! 

EastEnders had my full attention last week (Sorry Oaks, and other soaps!) but a lot has happened over in Chester this last week, too. 

Mercedes is alive and well - living in France! I'm not surprised to be honest. 

She's been working with Grace, who really did stab her (again, not surprised, if my memory serves me right, Mercy stabbed herself once before, to get Mitzeee locked up, didn't she?) 

Anyhow, Grace and Mercedes have got Joe Roscoe involved in framing his brother, Freddie, who's ended up running away with Joe's ex-wife Lindsey and their baby son, Joe Junior. 

Keep your eye on this story, as there's a surprising little twist in the tale, that left me shell-shocked at Lindsey's actions. 

And with Mercy set to make a come-back in March/April, it looks like her lies, along with Grace and Joe's, are to be exposed and Freddie will be revealed as the innocent man that he (kind of!) is. 

Hollyoaks bosses said that Jen Metcalfe was always only taking a break from the show, and the plan was always for her to return. I can't wait to see the fall-out. 

Especially for Grace, who's soon to have her own baby. But will surrogate, Esther, really hand over the baby, if she realises that Grace is still living in the dodgy world she promised to leave behind? And what will Trevor say?

Peri Lomax's pregnancy storyline begins this week, too... And her mum, Leela finds out about it on the teen's 15th birthday.

From what I gather, Tom, the baby's dad, wants to keep the baby, but Peri is still in shell-shock mode. 

Also - keep an eye on Tegan when this story begins. There's a scene where she will be taking gloves out of her handbag. Woolly ones, but gloves, all the same. Gloves - gloved-hand killer - Tegan works at the hosptial. 

Coincidence, or a red-herring? Hmm...

EASTENDERS - The Week After The Week Before...

That's it... 

We know that Bobby Beale killed his sister, Lucy. 

I haven't blogged since Wednesday, when I was sticking to my theory about Peter having caused Lucy to die, without realising it, and Jane covering for her step-son. 

I still think my theory would've been heart-wrenching and true - and when Bobby was revealed, I felt a little heart-sunk at first, if I'm honest. 

That changed after Friday's episode. The fully live one. 

The performances by Laurie Brett and Adam Woodyatt were stunning and you would have been forgiven to have forgotten that it was live. 

As the episode unravelled, it became clear why Jane had gone to such lengths and left Lucy on Walford Common. She knew, from what Bobby had told her, that he attacked Lucy without being provoked - hence Emma's 'it's still murder' line. 

Yes he's a child, but he wanted to cause his sister harm. He wanted to stop her from upsetting people and he would have been punished, imprisoned, if Jane had called the police. 

The way that the EE story team have decided that Bobby is unaware he killed his sister has given light to a new storyline for way in the future, Way, way in the future... EastEnders 40th, anyone?! 

People have questioned about whether Bobby would buy Jane's story that Lucy went out and was killed by someone else. Of course he would, children believe their parents every word. And Jane took him away very soon after, shielding  and protecting him. Maybe even telling him to never mention the fact that he hit his sister?

It's also a nice touch how Peter will leave the Square now, after promising to never forgive his family. Peter said himself that he will 'kill him' [Bobby, that is] so he definitely couldn't ever reunite with his younger sibling.
But will he be able to stay quiet? Surely Lauren will want to know what he discovered? And Mick Carter... Ian told him that he knew who had killed Lucy, before finding out the real truth. 

It's also been revealed that an innocent party will be arrested for Lucy's murder in the not too distant future, so this story is far from over. 

Will Jane and Ian really be able to keep quiet for their son? 

Jane, yes. 

Ian - I'm not so sure... 

In other news... 

She's alive! ALIVE!

She's baaaaccckkkk! 

I can't tell you the squealing that came from my sofa as Kathy Beale stepped out of that cab to meet Phil. 

'It's Grant, he's back...' I laughed just moments before. Talk about a jaw-dropper. 

So many questions - where's she been? Did Phil find out about this during his time in prison? Was it Witness Protection? Or did Phil know all along? 

More importantly, where does this leave the Roscoe boys, in Hollyoaks?! 

Dominic Treadwell-Collins has sad that Kathy's coming home, for good, so these questions will surely all be answered (well apart from the Roscoe/Hollyoaks one - unless it WAS witness protection and Sandy was Kathy's cover!!) 

I can't wait to see how her return affects Ben, Ian and Phil and Sharon's marriage. 

Peggy's line about 'how this will affect Sharon', makes complete sense, now. 

Elsewhere, poor Dot's had herself locked up for killing Nick, as we knew would happen. Poor Kush didn't know what to do, and I loved the sense of protection and community as everyone involved in finding Nick's body (apart from Martin and Kush!) agreed to keep quiet, and dispose of Nick, for Dot's sake. 

I also loved the connection between Stacey and Martin. New couple alert! 

And with Kim having given birth to baby Pearl (nice touch, Enders... Pearl - 30 years) and newcomer Vincent looking on, is he the dad? And just where does he know Ronnie from? There must be a romantic link following their kiss in the flashback ep, which would have put him in the right place to meet Kim before they scurried off on their cruise ship... 

Then there's Dean Wicks. 

Mick ain't killed him, even if a body does show up in a burnt out car. And if it is Dean's body, my bet is someone else done it... 

Would there really be another murder, so soon?

Hmm, well... It is Walford! 

What did you think of last week's special episodes?

ALL ABOUT THE LUCY STORY

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EASTENDERS - The panic before the storm...

Live night two was just a brilliant as night one.

There were more live scenes, and not to ficus on it, but when poor Jo Joyner called 'Ian' by his real name 'Adam' - her little face was a picture!
It made it all the more real and all the more fun...

This morning, however, I'm 99.9% confused about who killed Lucy.

All week I've stuck by my theory, and I still am, in a sense, because that's all I can do! So many people are throwing different names into the frame now, and each one I hear makes me wonder more...

The latest one is what Phil had wanted to tell Ian, before Ben came in. Did Phil hear something in prison about Lucy - and Jake is involved.
It's plausible, as Jamie Lomas is making a return for tonight's flashback epsode...

Another is Bobby, even though he's not on the suspect list. Jane covered for him. Hence her guilt.
I still think Jane would cover for Peter, though, too.

Does Ian look guilty? 

As the *duff duff* ended on Ian's face, as Peter announced that Lauren had told him Lucy was killed at home - and it must of been 'one of you' to Jane and Ian - that settles me into thinking it's definitely NOT Ian. Not that I ever thought it would be anyway... It would take too much away from the emotion of the scenes after Lucy was discovered dead.

Cindy is another name in the frame - but she was heavily pregnant at the time of Lucy's death, and I think she's a little red herring.

The producers had this storyline in preparation for well over a year before it even aired, and Cindy was a minute character then. Whoever killed her was a big character then... in their thoughts and changed only once in the very, very early days of planning this story. Since those early days, the murderer was locked in and not changed.

By this time tomorrow, we will know - and there will be a hurrah of people saying they 'knew it'! As much as I hope my theory totally matches that of the EastEnders team - I also  hope it's wrong - as I was the shock.

If it IS right, and matches the story - I'll be banging on the Elstree doors for a full-time job on their team, that's for sure!!

...Also, other big things to look out for on tonight's anniversary spectacular are the opening of tonight's 7.30pm ep. The sounds will be those exactly of the very first episode from exactly 30-years ago, as Nick Cotton's body is discovered in the same place as Reg Cox's was. Homage at its best!

Will Dean really do it ? And how far will Mick go to protect his family?

Dean is also about to return and holds poor Nancy hostage in The Vic cellar, threatening to set the pub alight, in revenge for Linda, rightly, reporting him for raping her. Mick soon discovers his daughter at the hands of his half-brother. How far will Mick go to protect his family?

Then - at 9.25pm there's the special flashback episode, where we will follow Lucy's final moments. It's said to be 'different' and have a film-type look.

There will also apparently be live elements in this flashback ep, so maybe Lucy's killer won't be revealed until the very final moment tonight - and the hour-special will be focusing more on paying respect to EastEnders' 30-years and whittling down suspects?

That means there's only 12-hours til we'll definitely know.

On that note - Happy Birthday EastEnders!

Looking forward to the next 30!

MY WHO KILLED LUCY THEORY...

ALL ABOUT THE LUCY STORY

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EASTENDERS: So it wasn't Abi...

Last night's live cliffhanger revealed two things.

Max thinks that he knows that his daughter, Abi, killed Lucy. Which means that we now know that Abi didn't. 

Tonight's episode, I imagine, will begin with [#EELive] Abi saying something along the lines of 'I didn't kill her. You did...' And so the reveal that a Branning ain't a murderer will unravel. 

Lee, Whitney and Pam Coker are still in the background. Les, too, is suspiciously(?) nowhere to be seen. But my money's still on a Beale. And after last night's ep, my theory, which you can read here, is still strong in my mind. I mean, Lauren's card to Jane: 'I know what happened to Lucy. She was killed at home.' 

Why would she leave the card to Jane? She thinks Jane killed her? I think Peter did. He doesn't know and Jane covered it up. 

Tonight, Peter will catch up with Lauren and she will tell him that she knows how Lucy died. But what *duff duff* will we end on?

I hope that the lovely EE producers will leave us with just a couple of suspects in the frame tonight. And I hope those three will be Peter, Jane and...hmm, I'm inclined to say Ian, but to be honest IF he turned out to have caused Lucy's death, it will take something away from the heartbreaking scenes Adam Woodyatt performed after Lucy's murder was revealed.
It'll be heartbreaking enough should her twin, Peter, be the one who killed her, which is why I'm imagining that he didn't realise that his actions caused her death.

I also saw a clip from Thursday ep, where Jane runs out of the Wedding party, in The Vic, looking over to the Beale house. She's visibly upset and possibly frightened. Could this have been where she witnessed what happened to Lucy, before choosing to cover it up?

I'm also suspicious of a few other things, but not sure why as yet:

• The Pearls around Queen Victoria's bust in The Vic are being put in shot quite a lot...
• The squashed banana and tomato as Ian was ridden to the wedding ceremony on the fruit and veg stall...
• Cindy carrying the music box around... 

Of course, these may be nothing, but worth a mention for eagle-eyed watchers!

How does villain Vincent know Ronnie?

In other #EELive news, Ronnie breathed without support! I knew she would, but it was still a relief! Ronnie, as I've said before, is one of my favourite characters. I was surprised that she awoke just in time to hear Roxy and Charlie's dirty secret. 

On one hand, I'm sad, as I thought Charlie and Ronnie were a good match, and I enjoyed the friendship Roxy had built with her brother-in-law. On the other hand, it's going to bring lots of drama, as Ronnie clearly won't forget what she heard. Even if she had only woken from weeks in a coma! 

Shout out, too, to Richard Blackwood, who fitted onto the Square like a glove in his role as new villain, Vincent. 

Rumours online suggested that Richard's characterwould be Kim's husband and the father to her baby... but no. He knows Ronnie, and Phil knows him. He's 'TROUBLE.' 

Trouble from where, though? He cared enough to not only bring Ronnie flowers, but then leave one said flower secretly at her hospital bedside after Billy and Phil told him that's where she was. He also didn't stick around long enough to be seen... A long-lost boyfriend, maybe? I can't wait to see how this pans out.

Talking of Mitchell's - another big shocker is sure to be why the hell Phil so desperately wants to speak to Ian. He's got something to reveal and I have no idea what... 

Also, who's passport did Phil take? Surely not his own, and Billy was searching Jay and Ben's room. But it was enough for Peggy to remind Phil about the affect 'this' could have on Sharon. Hmm, this is gonna be a biggie - I can tell! 

There's so much I feel could be said about last night's ep, but the focus is of course on Who Killed Lucy, at the moment. Later this week, we'll also have Nick's body being discovered, in a scene reminiscent of the very first EastEnders ep, where Reg Cox was found, having been killed by Nick himself.

Dean Wicks is also going to return, and cause a new nightmare for the Carter's, while secrets and lies for each Walford family will come tumbling out. 

Line of the ep last night goes to Mick Carter. 

"Get outta my Pub..." he said to Peggy, who threw him a knowing smile. 

I also loved Dot and Peggy's scene together... It's always a good'un when Ma Mitchell returns, albeit short-lived! 

Here's looking forward to tonight. 

8pm, BBC1. With #EELive in the corner to indicate live scenes, remember!! 

Let me know your thoughts and thoeries, so far...

MY NEAR-FINAL WHO KILLED LUCY THEORY...

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EASTENDERS: Live week begins!

It's here.

The week we've been anticipating since Good Friday 2014.

Tonight #EELive begins. And for those of you not on the Twittersphere - that's EastEnders Live. Now without sounding like a broken record, from tonight, through to Thursday we will have live elements in each episode - along with an all important flashback ep on Thursday - and a full 30-minute live episode on Friday, which will focus on the aftermath of Lucy's killer being revealed,

We''ll know which scenes are live because the #EELive hashtag will pop on screen - so look out for all important points towards the murderer, as I'm imagining it's these scenes which will give more of the game away.

And yes - I'm still sticking with my theory - although it may change as the next couple of days go on!

So, what do we have in store tonight?

Peggy's back! Yes! And she's going to be thrown when she sees the state of Dot, who's reeling from Nick's death.
I'm still sad that the biggest baddie ever is finally no more. I was also a bit perplexed at Dot's behavior at first. Would she really go and buy heroin for her son? Would she really leave him at fates hands and not call an ambulance? Maybe not, but maybe she also just reached the end of her tether, too.
Peggy will also meet Mick for the first time, a scene to which I'm looking forward to - maybe Phil will also return to see his mum, maybe that's where Phil ran off to?
I bet by 8.30pm tonight, Sharon will have an headache!

Also during tonight's show, Max learns that Lauren knows what she thinks happened to Lucy. But before he can speak to her, she runs off... Max is left in fear, worried that Lauren will reveal all.

Ian and Jane's wedding will also be in full swing, and after some doubts about being happy again, after what happened to Lucy, Ian goes to see Phil while the guests all wait at the restaurant for the ceremony. Why is Ian's arch enemy so desperate to see him?

Ronnie is also taken off her ventilator, while Roxy and Charlie nervously wait. Now, here's another storyline I'm a little confused about! I know that Roxy's been a little, well, loose... in the past, but even she wouldn't sleep with her comatose sisters hubby...
Okay, I know she already has, but I don't know where this is going... I would have much preferred a platonic friendship for Roxy with her brother-in-law.
I know Ronnie's a tragic heroine, but blimey... the girl, should she wake, needs some happiness, finally!

Ooh - and Himesh Patel, who plays Tamwar will also be making soap history this week by tweeting as his character.

Keep an eye on all things social media - I love reading everyone's thoughts and theories...

What do you think of mine?

MY NEAR-FINAL WHO KILLED LUCY THEORY...

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