EastEnders has partly shifted into a prison drama this week, with Sharon Watts serving her week-long
sentence after she was charged with contempt of court while giving evidence in Dean Wicks’ murder
trial. But what she didn’t expect was to find herself face to face with her former
stepmother Chrissie, who has been in prison since 2005 for the murder of Sharon’s beloved father Den. The long-awaited reunion was surprisingly heartfelt, but it was soon revealed that Chrissie was putting on an act, and she plotted revenge against Sharon for reporting her to the police all those years ago.
She staged a prison riot and used the chaos to march Sharon to her cell and point a weapon at her. In today’s episode (September 11), Chrissie explained why she still held a grudge against Sharon and Mitchell brothers Phil and Grant for their actions almost two decades ago.
She then dropped a huge bombshell about her past, which involved her former flame, Jake Moon – leaving Sharon shocked.
It has been a long while since Jake set foot in Walford, so that name might be unfamiliar to some viewers. But we’ve got you covered with a handy recap – who was Jake Moon, and what happened to his relationship with Chrissie?
Who was Jake Moon in EastEnders?
Jake Moon first arrived in Albert Square at the very end of 2004 with his brother Danny, as second cousins of Alfie and Spencer. It isn’t long before he witnessed his boss Andy Hunter get murdered by Johnny Allen – and he then spent several months working for Johnny in the aftermath.
He had a short-lived fling with Chrissie, but in July 2005 Jake planned to flee Walford after Danny set fire to Johnny’s house. But the brothers were caught by Johnny, who drove them into the woods to kill them. The fate of both Jake and Danny was left up in the air for several months, until Jake showed up and it was revealed that Johnny had let them go.
Jake and Chrissie later got back together, but Chrissie then confessed to him that she had killed Den – whose body had been found weeks earlier. The pair decide to run away together, but it was too late as Chrissie’s confession was caught on camera, and she was arrested at the airport.
Though Chrissie was in prison, Jake refused to give up on their relationship and proposed to her. But Chrissie didn’t want him to put his life on hold, so she told Jake that she was going to plead guilty to murder and asked him never to visit her again.
After his relationship with Chrissie ended, Jake found out that his brother Danny was living in Johnny’s mansion. Danny was following Johnny’s orders, and Jake found out that he had killed Dennis Rickman – Sharon’s husband.
Danny was set to kill Grant Mitchell, as per Johnny’s orders, but before he could do so, Jake shot his brother, and he died. Jake buried Danny in the woods, then took in Johnny’s daughter Ruby after Johnny was arrested for Dennis’ murder.
What happened to Jake in EastEnders?
Johnny continued to pay Jake to look after Ruby while he was in prison. But Jake made an enemy out of Ruby’s boyfriend Sean Slater, and Sean found out that Jake killed Danny. In October 2006, Jake told Johnny about Sean’s schemes, and Johnny then told Sean that he would kill him if he didn’t break up with Ruby.
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Johnny then ordered Jake to kill Sean, but he had a heart attack while making the phone call from prison. He only uttered the words, “Jake, kill him for me”, before he collapsed and later died in hospital. But Johnny’s cellmate misunderstood his words and believed he wanted him to kill Jake.
In Jake’s final scene, he decided to leave Walford, but before he escaped, a man approached him and asked if he was Jake Moon. This was the last anyone has ever seen of Jake, and it was presumed that he was killed in a tragic mistake. But of course, this is EastEnders, and we never saw his death, so who knows whether we will see Jake again…
What did Chrissie reveal about Jake?
returning to the present day, Chrissie explained the real reason why she was still angry at Sharon over her arrest. She revealed that when she was sent to prison, she was in fact carrying Jake Moon’s baby.
“All my life, all I ever wanted was a baby,” she said, explaining that she thought she would have children with Den. But while Den got a number of other women pregnant, notably Michelle Fowler and Zoe Slater, Chrissie remained childless.
For the reason, Chrissie was thrilled to discover that she was expecting a baby with Jake. “He loved me,” she said. “We were going to run away together. Just the two of us. A new start. And I loved him.”
While she previously told Jake she never wanted to see him again, her pregnancy changed things, and she decided that she would wait for the first scan then send him a photo. She planned to fight her case instead of pleading guilty, and wanted to tell him to wait for her so they could start their family.
Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron//BBC
But sadly, two weeks after she found out that she was expecting, Chrissie lost the baby – and Jake never knew that he was set to become a dad. Chrissie told Sharon that she blamed her for her miscarriage, convinced that she lost the baby because of her prison stint.
After this bombshell, Sharon managed to escape serious injury. But as she prepares to report Chrissie to the prison governor, Chrissie has some murderous leverage that she will use to keep her quiet. What will Sharon decide to do?
