EastEnders fans have been very vocal about their opinions towards Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) this week, declaring they’re ‘done’ with the character.
Recently, Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James), Lily Slater (Lillia Turner), and Amy Mitchell (Ellie Dadd) were taken to the police station after pills were found near them.
As viewers saw, none of the trio actually handled the drugs, as they were dropped by Avani’s vape dealer when he saw the police approaching.
Several calls were made to the girls’ responsible adults, though only Jack and Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) arrived to pick up their respective youngsters.
Avani’s mum Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) purposely ignored the private number calling her, while her dad Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) was too busy working.
As a result of her attitude and lack of cooperation, the police claimed they had no other option but to search her for more narcotics.
She was, naturally, spooked by the situation, and refused the guardianship from an appropriate adult in the room. Avani also didn’t realise that she would have to strip – even taking off her underwear – in front of two strangers.
The uncomfortable scenes, and the aftermath that followed, sparked a huge reaction from the audience of the BBC One soap. Taking to social media platform X, plenty of users had a lot to say about Jack – a police detective who many suspect had a part to play in the authorisation of the search, though this remains speculation.
‘Authorizing a strip search just to make another kid feel degraded/gross is insane! Jack literally has a daughter who’s troubled because of his constant neglect, and he still let this happen. The hatred for Ravi and cheating were bad enough, but this? He’s done!!’, one person wrote.
Echoing the shock over Jack’s actions, this fan said: ‘Jack actually can’t come back from this, no amount of scenes with Denise will sanitise what he’s done to Avani #EastEnders’.
Noting Jack’s history with Avani’s father Ravi, another highlighted: ‘Jack traumatising Avani just bc he has beef with Ravi is insane work. He needs to get in the bin #EastEnders’.
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This user of X penned: ‘This Avani story is quite powerful. Jack clearly has unconscious bias issues as do the two female officers. I’m not sure their character’s bias is that unconscious to be honest. #EastEnders’.
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Once Priya discovered what her daughter had gone through, she ran across the street to confront Jack.
Avani was devastated and pleaded with her mum to stop. Lily and Amy overheard the commotion – and every detail of her ordeal, and tried to calm her down.
Unfortunately, Avani began to suffer a panic attack and darted home, where she broke down on the staircase.
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