EastEnders’ Oscar Branning had to postpone his plan to leave Walford amid his dad Max and Cindy Beale’s joint efforts to expose Jasmine Fisher’s real motives.

Recent scenes have seen Max and Cindy team up to make Oscar see through his girlfriend Jasmine’s lies. Viewers know that Jasmine made a secret plan to leave Albert Square in a bid to keep hidden that she killed her dad Anthony Trueman on Christmas Day.

In tonight’s (22 January) episode, Max tried to talk Oscar out of leaving Walford, insisting he hadn’t made a pass at Jasmine.

“Make this any harder, you’ll never see me again,” Oscar told his dad.

A devastated Max met up with Cindy, who suggested: “If you want to get through to Oscar, you just have to make him see that Jasmine isn’t the person that she says she is.”

Cindy added they should have Lauren talk to him.

“I know Jasmine, the real Jasmine, and manipulative and cunning doesn’t even cover it,” Cindy told Lauren, who was unsure about what to do.

“We could lose it, Lauren,” Max said.

Lauren asked Cindy why she was willing to help them, to which she replied: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend… for a while anyway.”

After the chat, Lauren called Oscar with an excuse, asking him to come back home and help her with the kids. She was heartbroken when Oscar confirmed he’d be leaving with Jasmine.

“Jasmine needs to go and I need to be with her, I’m sorry,” he told Lauren.

Max begged him to trust him so he could get proof that Jasmine was lying. He met up with her, offering her money to tell Oscar the truth.

Jasmine took up the offer, but spotted Max’s phone on a call with Oscar on the other end.

“It just sounds like you want me to lie,” Jasmine then told Max.

“If you really cared about Oscar, you would’ve shown up for him over the years. But you didn’t, did you?” she insisted, adding: “You are not fit to be a dad. You’re a sperm donor, at best.”

A confused Max said: “Why are you saying all this?”, to which she replied: “I don’t want your money! I don’t want to lie to the person I love!”

Max noticed his phone had been moved right as Oscar burst into the room, saying his dad wasn’t worth his time. Jasmine congratulated Max on his “old-school” trick and whispered in his ear that she’d won.

Later on, it was Lauren who managed to make Oscar reason and delay his Walford exit.

She apologised to Jasmine for having yelled at her in the Vic and suggested she and Oscar could stick around, save up some more money and then go off on their adventure.

Oscar conceded his sister had a point, much to Jasmine’s impatience. Once alone with Lauren, Jasmine accused her of not meaning what she said.

“Well, here’s something I do mean, then,” Lauren said with a smile. “Stick around. Or I will go straight over to the Vic and tell Kat all about your little plans.”

Spoilers have confirmed that Kat will find out about Jasmine’s plan to bolt and start asking questions.

In tonight’s final scenes, Jasmine went to see Max, informing him that Lauren had persuaded Oscar to stay for a while longer.

A furious Jasmine then told Max that she didn’t have any compassion for him, and that she wouldn’t encourage Oscar to stay in touch after they’d left.

After Jasmine left, Max had an idea. Jasmine hadn’t seen Cindy was there, so they could use their alliance to their advantage. “We’re the last two people she’d expect to be working together,” Max said.

What does he have in mind?