EastEnders spoilers follow for Thursday’s (April 11) episode, which is now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
George Knight (Colin Salmon) broke down in tears as adoptive mum Gloria (Elizabeth Counsell) died in hospital after suffering a heart attack.
Gloria had been under a serious amount of stress in recent weeks due to husband Eddie (Christopher Fairbanks) having been charged with the murder of Henry Kofi Asare, George’s biological father.
Eddie, as viewers know, is guilty of the crime and, despite Gloria once pleading with her son to defend his adoptive father in court, she ultimately did the right thing, urging George to stand up in court and tell the truth about vile racist Eddie.
After some advice from Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) and Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), George did just that, with Gloria later telling her son how ‘proud’ she is of him.
The situation, however, resulted in Gloria suffering a massive heart attack and being rushed to hospital, where doctors confirmed that the damage to heart was significant.
Knowing she wasn’t long for the world, the matriarch asked George to return home to her flat and retrieve a cigar box which contained memories from the past, which she was keen to go through with him.
George did what was asked with him before taking a detour to the Boxing Den, where Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) urged him to head to the hospital before it’s too late, reflecting on the regret he has over not being there for mum Peggy (Barbara Windsor) when she died.
Taking the hard-man’s advice, George returned to the bedside of Gloria, who was delighted to see him. Upon learning that Eddie had been jailed for murder, she simply said ‘good’, commenting that he wouldn’t be able to look after himself without her present.
George fought back tears, assuring Gloria that – despite everything – she is still his mum and he loves her. Gloria was overwhelmed and revealed that, when he was a baby, he wouldn’t stop crying and therefore she reached out to Margaret – his biological mum – who sent a lullaby on a cassette tape.
‘I’d like to hear it again’, she said. George granted her request, with the mother and son duo sharing a heartfelt moment before Gloria passed away peacefully, finally ‘free’ at last.
