EastEnders has shared an emotional first look at Bex Fowler’s return to Walford next week ahead of Martin Fowler’s funeral.

While Bex left Albert Square back in 2020 to go travelling, Jasmine Armfield is reprising her role for a short stint as the character comes home to say goodbye to her beloved dad.

In scenes that will air next week, Bex arrives in Walford and reunites with her mum Sonia and aunt Bianca Jackson ahead of the upcoming funeral.

Bex asks her mum to accompany her to the undertakers to say a personal goodbye to Martin before he is laid to rest, but Sonia is overcome and can’t bring herself to go.

bex, sonia fowler, bianca jackson, eastenders
BBC

sonia fowler, bianca jackson, bex, eastenders
BBC

 

On the day before Martin’s funeral, tensions rise in Albert Square, with Ruby Allen confronting Jean Slater in the café about where Stacey Slater is.

Earlier this month, Jean suggested to heartbroken Stacey that she should go and stay with her brother Sean for a while, so she has been absent from much of the funeral planning.

Ruby then heads to the undertakers herself to say an emotional goodbye to Martin, who was her partner at the time of his d3ath.

sonia fowler, bex, eastenders
BBC

bex, eastenders
BBC

Sonia has second thoughts and eventually agrees to go with Bex to say goodbye to her dad, and the pair are joined by Kathy Beale, who has also struggled since Martin’s d3ath.

Kathy and Bex grieve together at Martin’s coffin and they both use the time to give personal tributes, but Sonia is overwhelmed by the situation and is unable to speak.

sonia fowler, bex, eastenders
BBC

bex, sharon watts, eastenders
BBC

However, once she is alone, Sonia breaks down in tears by the coffin as she says her final goodbye to her ex-husband.

“It’s wonderful to be back at EastEnders and to see so many familiar faces,” Armfield said when her return was announced last month. “It’s amazing for me to come home, but for Bex, it’s an absolutely devastating time because she’s lost her dad.

“She’s grown up a lot, having spent the past few years travelling, so we’re going to see a much more mature and grown-up version of Bex this time around.”

EastEnders airs on Mondays – Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.