There’s panic ahead for Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) in EastEnders next week as word reaches him that his close friend Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) has gone missing.

Phil has been acting as Nigel’s carer in recent months amid his worsening dementia symptoms, but their world was upended earlier this week with the arrival of Nigel’s estranged wife Julie Bates (Karen Henthorn) in Walford.

As actress Karen Henthorn reprised her role after 27 years, fans of the BBC soap saw her character heartbreakingly find out that Nigel’s desire not to burden her with his dementia diagnosis was the real reason he’d walked out on their marriage.

Following some emotional scenes, which saw Nigel fail to recognise his wife, Julie then told a devastated Phil that she would be taking Nigel back home to Scotland to care for him there.

Thursday’s episode appeared to serve as an exit for Nigel and Julie as they left Walford together – but spoilers for next week have revealed their story is not over yet.

As we return to Walford on Monday, Julie arrives back at Phil’s without Nigel, and Phil is worried when she informs him that Nigel is AWOL.

Nigel and Julie Bates smiling in EastEnders
Nigel’s wife Julie arrived in Walford (Picture: BBC)
Nigel, Julie and Phil in the kitchen of the Mitchell home in EastEnders

Julie and Phil clash over Nigel’s care (Picture: BBC)
Upon hearing the news, Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), Callum Highway (Tony Clay) and Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) then launch a frantic hunt for him.

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Fortunately, it isn’t long before they manage to track Nigel down and bring him back to No.55 – but tensions between Julie and Phil soon flare up again, as they butt heads about what should happen next.

Jay and Yolande try to reason with Julie and Phil respectively, but will they manage to make the pair reach some sort of compromise about Nigel’s future care?