Yolande (Angela Wynter) and Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) are set
to come face to face with her vile abuser Pastor Clayton (Howard Saddler)
in upcoming EastEnders – and a huge row erupts. Viewers of the BBC One
soap will remember that the sinister church-leader sexually abused Yolande in a storage cupboard at the community centre on the night of their big charity fundraiser. Unable to confide life-partner Patrick head on about the ordeal, she asked close pal Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) to do it for her, and in an emotional two-hander episode, she finally spoke with him about what she had suffered. She opted not to report Clayton to the police, fearful that they wouldn’t believe her, but instead told church official Levi instead with him promising to take action. After a break away, the couple returned this week to discover he had left Walford and the Pastor was still roaming around the Square as an ‘innocent’ man. In upcoming scenes, Yolande is adamant to attend Jordan’s baptism, on cloud nine that Chelsea (Zaraah Abrahams) asked them both to be his godparents – and not even Clayton’s presence will get in the way.
Cracks begin to show in their relationship when she finds out Patrick had been meddling with Chelsea’s plans and after a heated discussion, she storms out to speak with Elaine. With a fresh perspective on the situation with thanks to her friend, Yolande feels a lot better about facing the day but is stopped in her tracks by an intense encounter with her abuser and his wife Stella. At the church, Denise (Diane Parish) begins to suspect there’s something wrong and takes her to one side to ask her if she’s ok, and later, Bernie finds her praying alone. The two share a heartfelt conversation about bravery and Yolande decides to go ahead with the baptism as planned but it all gets too much and she lashes out at Clayton before running home. Who will pick up on the incident, and is the secret about to be finally exposed?