EastEnders viewers widely accept that nobody should mess with Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).

Incredibly dangerous and now entangled with drug dealing, he makes for a formidable foe.

Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington), however, is just as formidable, and doesn’t think twice about going after the Square’s pre-eminent bad boy next week. Both have ended lives and maintained ties to the underworld, making them a pretty evenly matched pair.

Ravi turned to drug dealing, entering the shady game (via a contact of Nicola, in fact) to save his family from financial hardship, after Bernie Taylor (Clair Norris) wiped out the his family businesses bank accounts before absconding.

Ravi expanded his operation, dragging Nicola’s son, Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway), into it to protect his best friend, Kojo Asare (Dayo Koleosho), who flushed Ravi’s stash, and Ravi has since cuckooed him.

Next week sees Ravi and his top dealer, Okie Okyere (Aayan Ibikunle Shoderu), panic of repercussions when they hear that their latest drugs run has caused issues with another narcotics gang.

When Harry spots said gang lurking around the flat, he fails to inform Ravi, hoping that a raid will force him to withdraw from Kojo’s place.

Kojo returns home while Harry is distracted by his girlfriend, Gina Knight (Francesca Henry), and finds Okie battered and bloody. When Harry discovers the mess at Kojo’s place, he pales. The heat is high and the trio are now in way too deep.

He turns to his mum, Nicola, who has absolutely no qualms about taking Ravi on.

Reminding Ravi that, as she was the one who was the conduit to setting up his drug operation, she knows his bosses all too well, Nicola puts him squarely on the backfoot.

With a deadly threat to contact his higher-ups, which would place Ravi in mortal danger, Nicola has him on the ropes and he acquiesces, releasing Harry from the operation entirely.

Harry feels relieved, but he doesn’t realize that Ravi still plans to base his dealings from Kojo’s flat, so while Harry is free, Kojo definitely isn’t.