EastEnders’ Nicola and Teddy Mitchell (Laura Doddington and Roland Manookian) execute a shocking plan next week, as they scramble to cover up her murderous crimes.

As fans of the BBC soap know, it was recently revealed that Nicola killed her son Harry’s (Elijah Holloway) ex-girlfriend Shireen, who has been missing for the last four years.

Nicola’s killer secret is currently at risk of being exposed as unbeknown to her, ex-husband Teddy agreed a deal to redevelop a derelict industrial park in Dartford, not realising it is where Shireen’s body is buried.

In scenes to air next week, Nicola is forced to confess all to Teddy when he starts asking increasingly difficult questions.

‘The inevitable landslide is happening because Nicola’s lies are unravelling,’ reveals actress Laura Doddington, who plays Nicola. ‘She’s like an animal caught in a corner and lashing out to try to protect herself.’

Upon learning the truth, Teddy insists that Harry deserves to know what happened to Shireen, but Nicola manages to convince him to keep quiet by pointing out it would send their son off the rails.

Laura says that Nicola has to ‘think fast’ about what to do next, but she’s ‘relieved’ when Teddy later decides to help her.

‘Nicola has been trying to do this independently and keep him clean of any involvement but him helping her really does take some of the stress off Nicola,’ the actress explains.

‘She’s been dealing with what happened to Shireen for years and she thought she’d got away with it but now it’s resurfaced and having somebody to share the stress with is a relief.’

Teddy pauses work at the site while he and Nicola do a deal with her creepy associate Benji, who buried Shireen for her.

‘It’s like a game of poker and there is manipulation from all parties at the table,’ says Laura. ‘They are all behaving as if they have the winning hand.’

Following the negotiations, Nicola thinks she has no option but to sell Harry’s Barn to pay Benji, but later, Teddy finds another solution.

However, Nicola is incredulous when Teddy ‘goes rogue’ and his actions have unintended consequences for them both.

‘Nicola thought this was her show and she was the puppet master, so she wasn’t expecting Teddy to take control like this,’ Laura reveals. ‘She thinks she can call all the shots and have his support. The trouble is that now they are playing with fire and may well just get burned!’

Those fears look to be realised when Nicola is later ambushed by an intruder while alone at Harry’s Barn, and she faces a huge reckoning…

Is it game over for the killer club owner?