EastEnders’ Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) has been tying herself in knots trying to hide the huge secret from cousin Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) that she recently had contact with her daughter Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) – but she has another thing to worry about next week.

Walford’s resident baps enthusiast is spooked when a mysterious man starts lurking outside her home in forthcoming scenes.

The unknown figure turns up just as Stacey has deployed a scheme to wind up Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) about his plans to buy The Queen Vic pub from Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) and Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe).

After Ian lords his decision to purchase the boozer over Stacey and Kat, he later finds out Stacey’s won £100k on a scratch card and she intends to enter the race to bid for The Vic, leaving him furious.

However, Stacey’s joy at Ian’s fury is short-lived when she spies a man outside No. 31 and believes he is a bailiff – likely because Zoe has been racking up credit card debt in Stacey’s name.

However, there is further intrigue when Stacey and her best mate Eve Panesar-Unwin (Heather Peace) find out he actually works for an insurance company.

What could this mystery man want with Stacey? And could he be holding good news, rather than bad?

After the awful few years Stacey has had – including losing her beloved soulmate Martin Fowler (James Bye) – let’s hope it’s the former…

Actress Lacey Turner, who plays Stacey, recently announced she will be leaving EastEnders later this year.

While BBC bosses are keeping tight-lipped about her exit storyline, they have said that there’s a lot more to come for Stacey in the months leading up to her exit.

A spokesperson also confirmed that the door would be left open for her to return one day.

‘We can confirm that Lacey will be off-screen later this year,’ they said. ‘But there is plenty of more drama to come beforehand and we will look forward to planning Stacey’s return when Lacey decides the time is right.’