Having been involved in the cover-up of her fiancé’s death and coming face-to-face with her vengeful ex-step-mother while spending time at Her Majesty’s pleasure, it hasn’t been the best year for EastEnders’ Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean).

But that looks set to change next week, when the character takes a chance on love – albeit risking the wrath of ex-husband Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) by agreeing to a date with his cousin.

Teddy Mitchell (Roland Manookian) has had his eyes locked on Sharon since his arrival in Walford earlier this year.

While she previously knocked him back, Teddy steps up his efforts to woo her in forthcoming scenes.

With preparations for Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) and Eve Unwin’s (Heather Peace) engagement party underway, Teddy tries to impress Sharon by offering to help Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) when she gets stuck at the eleventh hour. 

When he then asks Sharon out on a date, she rebuffs him, but Kathy implores her friend to give Teddy a chance, which gives her some food for thought. 

Later in the week, Teddy’s son Harry Mitchell (Elijah Holloway) puts his foot in it between his dad and Sharon, so decides to make it up to his dad by setting up a date between the pair at The Arches. 

While Teddy is initially annoyed at Harry for interfering, he is stunned when Sharon arrives and asks him for a drink. 

There’s a massive setback for the pair, however, when Teddy is forced to bail on their date when son Barney (Lewis Bridgeman) has an altercation with Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) at McClunky’s. 

Will Sharon give him a second chance? And what will Phil do when he gets wind of Teddy’s advances?

EastEnders airs these scenes from Monday 14 October at 7.30pm on BBC One and from 6am on iPlayer.