EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossa has explained Lauren Branning and Whitney Dean’s huge new scenes.
Viewers will know that Lauren and Whitney’s fiancé Zack Hudson recently shared a kiss behind Whitney’s back, and Lauren’s guilt will weigh more heavily on her next week when Zack’s bride-to-be asks Lauren to be her maid of honour after a fall out with Bianca.
“It is super awkward for Lauren – I even felt awkward filming it myself!” Jacqueline admitted. “It’s one of those situations where you think, ‘I can’t be here, this is wrong!’
“Lauren loves her friend and wants to make her happy, and if she acts too weird, Whitney will notice, so she has to play along. But ultimately, Lauren probably wants to move back to New Zealand at that moment.”
Bianca’s jealousy mounts when she overhears Whitney praising Lauren, and threatens to reveal her and Zack’s secret unless Lauren does so herself. Lauren then tries to share her doubts about Zack to Whitney, though is unable to reveal the full truth.
“Ever since she’s been back, Lauren has been Zack’s biggest fan and rooting for him,” Jacqueline noted. “She insisted that Whitney should tell him about Britney, for example.
“So, this weird flip to ‘He’s not good enough for you’ comes out of nowhere. Whitney sees it as jealousy because Lauren hasn’t got a lot going on in her love life, and I think there’s an element of truth to that.”
The two end up getting locked in Bianca’s taco van, the actor explaining: “Penny can see that Lauren is super distressed about something, and Lauren panics and tells her that it’s a stupid argument with Whitney.
“But because it’s Whitney’s hen do, Penny takes things into her own hands and locks them in the taco van to sort out their troubles. She thinks that when they are ready, they’ll come out and dance the night away. But things don’t pan out like that….”
Things then take an even more dramatic turn when Whitney’s waters break, Jacqueline admitting that in the moment “there are so many different thoughts going through” Lauren’s mind.
“The first is that she has to try to keep Whitney calm, and the second is that they need to get out of there because they don’t want Whitney to have a baby in a taco van,” she added.
“There’s also the horrible thought that she might deliver Whitney’s baby, having slept with her fiancé. But ultimately, all she cares about is Whitney and the baby’s safety.”
