EastEnders’ Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington) stages a furious return to Walford next week – and Zack Hudson (James Farrar) had better watch his back.

Fans of the BBC soap will remember that last month, Zack discovered he was actually the father of Nicola’s teenage son Barney (Lewis Bridgeman) following a lust-filled fling they’d had years before either of them had ever set foot on Albert Square.

Nicola took desperate measures to stop the truth from being revealed to Barney and his ‘father’ Teddy Mitchell (Roland Manookian), having Zack savagely beaten up.

In a further attempt to silence him, Nicola warned Zack that Teddy was a cold-blooded k.i.l.l.e.r who’d had their son Harry’s (Elijah Holloway) girlfriend Shireen murdered – although in actual fact, Nicola is Shireen’s real k.i.l.l.e.r.

Believing Zack had been dealt with, Nicola has since reunited with Teddy and was recently seen leaving Walford for an impromptu holiday to Ibiza with her sister.

However, when she returns home next Wednesday, she is incandescent to find that Zack has been trying to get closer to Barney.

At the beginning of the week, former personal trainer Zack seizes an opportunity to train Barney, which Teddy accepts.

But when Nicola arrives back in Albert Square and learns of the news, she menacingly warns Zack to back off, but he ignores her pleas.

Realising she needs to try a different tactic, she enlists the help of Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) and newcomer Joel Marshall (Max Murray) to antagonise her son during his training session with Zack.

A distraught Barney believes Zack is to blame for the boys’ behaviour towards him and flees the scene, leaving Zack furious.

But while Nicola looks to have won this battle, it’s unlikely that the war between her and Zack is over, so what d.e.a.d.l.y move will she make next?