Time runs out for killer Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) in EastEnders next week as the deadline to pay off his debts to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) arrives.

Reiss has found himself in increasing amounts of debt in recent weeks, even smothering his comatose wife Debbie to death in the hope of solving the problem.

He also diced with death himself after daring to fleece Walford’s resident hard man Phil and his business partner Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) with a fake investment scheme.

Having grown suspicious of Reiss, Phil has made increasingly threatening demands for his money back.

This week, deadline day arrives, and Reiss is a nervous wreck having no cash to give Phil.

In a desperate bid to escape Phil, he tries to persuade fiancée Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) to head out with him for a day, but she refuses. 

Later, Phil turns up on the doorstep raging, and Reiss is forced to tell Sonia that he is supposed to pay him back today but can’t. 

Teddy Mitchell (Roland Manookian) later comes to his rescue, however, when he offers to take on the debt from Phil – something he keeps from Sonia. 

But she later finds out when Sharon unwittingly drops Reiss in it, leaving Sonia furious she had to learn it third-hand. 

Confronting Reiss, she tells him it is madness to make a deal with someone they barely know. 

Will Reiss live to regret taking Teddy’s offer?

Soon though, Reiss will have bigger things to talk himself out of, when the police arrive looking for him and Sonia during their engagement party at The Vic to arrest them for Debbie’s murder!

Speaking about the latest development in Sonia and Reiss’ storyline, actress Natalie Cassidy said: ‘It’s such a shame because right now all Sonia just wants is to nest, enjoy being engaged and being in this early stage of pregnancy, and just have a quiet life.

‘If they hadn’t had the IVF journey together, I think Sonia might have told Reiss where to go after one too many lies. There have been so many lies, but she’s so dead set on having this family that Sonia is just going with it.’ 

Something tells us she might feel differently when she learns of how Debbie really died, though…

EastEnders airs these scenes from Monday 19 August at 7.30pm on BBC One and from 6am on iPlayer.