Whitney Dean’s (Shona McGarty) life has been turned upside down in EastEnders by evil Leo King (Tom Wells), who’s become hellbent on getting revenge on behalf of his paedophile dad Tony (Chris Coghill). The young woman has been terrified of what he’ll do next, what with him stalking her and watching her every move, but matters are set to escalate further in the coming episodes.
After all the hell she’s been through, Whitney thought she’d found the perfect man in Leo. The paralegal appeared to be kind and caring, and an all-round nice guy, but his true colours soon came to light when his true identity was revealed.
Speaking about Whitney’s shock when the truth came to light, actress Shona said: ‘Whitney is shocked and heartbroken, she just can’t understand how when she thinks she’s found the perfect man it could go so horribly wrong. She’s really gutted. As soon as she found out in the hotel, Leo just completely turned on her and Whitney saw a different side to him.’
In the months that have passed since the big discovery, Leo has proceeded to stalk Whitney —claiming that he’s in love with her — which, naturally, has left the young stall-holder terrified for her own life.
With Leo set to resort to drastic measures in the coming episodes, it’s safe to say that nobody really knows what he’s capable of — and this is something that plagues Whitney, as she worries what Leo will do next.
Shona said: ‘She is worried now about what he’s capable of. Everybody’s stressed to her that she is in danger and she trusts her family and friends so she definitely believes it. She’s constantly looking behind her, it’s just horrible.’
‘Whitney really does see the good in everyone, she sees the good in evil and she still wants Leo to be happy which just proves how nice she is. Even though he is Tony’s son and it’s awful and tragic as they can never be together, she does kind of still hold a flame for him.’
In spite of him claiming that he loves Whitney, it came to light in recent episodes that Leo’s motivations are in relation to getting what he believes to be justice for his dad, which is why he refuses to back down. In the coming episodes, matters escalate — and Whitney finds herself in danger as a result.
Speaking about the upcoming scenes, Shona said: ‘Whitney is oblivious that Leo is in her loft which is just terrifying. She goes to see Kat and arrives home to see the place ransacked and a letter that Tony gave her is missing. Her and Leo have a very intense dramatic showdown…’
Of course, the big question is: what will transpire?
Will Whitney manage to make it out alive? Will Leo?
That of course remains to be seen, but — should Whitney manage to escape with her life intact — Shona has some advice for her character.
She said: ‘I think she needs to be on her own for at least a couple of months. She needs to find herself and love herself again, spend more time with Tiff, maybe talk to Chantelle or go out with Ruby. She just needs to live her life, not worry about men and forget about the past.’
One to watch: Friday 14 February at 8pm on BBC One.
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