EastEnders spoilers follow.
EastEnders has aired a worrying update for Kat Slater as her abuse story with Tommy Moon continues.
Kat recently had another violent altercation with her troubled teenage son Tommy while Alfie Moon was in Birmingham on a training course.
Tommy first turned violent with Kat earlier this year by punching her in the stomach, only for his out-of-control temper to flare up again after he was caught stealing from the café.
Kat has essentially been in hiding after being hit in the face by her son, appearing only briefly this week in a scene where she stared at her bruised face in the mirror.
In Thursday’s (October 17) episode, several of Kat’s loved ones were concerned about her whereabouts since nobody had seen her in days.
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Jean was particularly concerned about Kat’s wellbeing, but was talked out of pursuing the matter any further by boyfriend Harvey since Tommy claimed his mum had a stomach bug.
“The last thing I want to do when I’m sick is to see people,” Harvey told her. “She’ll be up and about again, as soon as she’s up to it.”
Later, viewers saw that Kat was hiding out in flat 5D so nobody could see her facial bruising. She took a call from Alfie, but lied to him that everything was fine.
“I’m just tired, Alfie. You know it is. It’s all good,” she told him.
Kat glanced over to an old photo of herself with Tommy, then reflexively rubbed the bruise under her eye.
Nearly breaking down, she promised Alfie: “Everything’s fine.”
The situation is set to get worse in scenes airing next week when Alfie returns home and figures out that Kat is trying to hide her injury.
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.
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Family Based Solutions (www.familybasedsolutions.org.uk) and PEGS (www.pegsupport.co.uk) are organisations which offer advice and support on child-to-parent abuse.
EastEnders has also consulted with the NSPCC (www.nspcc.org.uk) on wider aspects of Tommy and Kat’s storyline.