EastEnders' Suki takes drastic action ahead of huge week of episodes

EastEnders' Suki Panesar takes drastic action in her bid to become Ria's adoptive parent alongside her wife, Eve Unwin. Suki and Eve have been fostering Ria for the past few months and plan to adopt the youngster, but their dreams of becoming a permanent family have been hindered by Ria's biological mother Harleen.

After meeting the couple, Harleen said she would contest their bid to adopt Ria after walking in on Suki and her daughter Ash Panesar arguing.

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In tonight's (12 November) episode, desperate not to lose Ria, Suki fought for their family in a move that might come back to haunt her.

The episode began with Eve and Suki discussing the upcoming hearing, with Suki confident that Harleen is "not the most reliable" and a judge will not rule in her favour.

They say that Ria is settled with them, but their case worker argues that Harleen has made great progress over the last year, and they need to do what is best for the teen.

Later, Suki became infuriated while discussing Harleen and said she always planned to contest the adoption, while Ash agreed with her and argued they didn't even raise their voices that loud when Harleen caught them clashing.

Eve wondered whether Harleen would go for full custody of Ria, which Suki disagreed with, and stated that even if she did, she wouldn't get it.

Ash, however, reasoned that Harleen was just a child herself when she had Ria, and that if she has "grown up, got her act together and wants to be a mum", then would it be so wrong for Ria to be with her birth mother?

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Suki said that Ria would be better off with them and that Harleen has repeatedly let her down, but the conversation got too much for a visibly distressed Eve, who left to collect Ria.

Eve and Ria shared a tender moment when playing together, as Ria embraced Eve and told her she loved her, all watched by Suki.

Later, Suki confided in Sharon about Harleen's plan and the frustration she feels over Eve's devastation and the better life she believes the couple can give Ria.

"We love her, we are her family," Eve says, with Sharon urging her to fight for her daughter no matter what it takes.

Later at the practice, Suki uses Ash's GP database to secretly gain access to Harleen's address, but what will she do with it?

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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