Howie Danes (Delroy Atkinson) really, really, wants to be the partner that Kim Fox (Tameka Empson) needs, but the EastEnders postman has found himself slip into criminality to provide the kind of life his beloved requires.

Ever since he heard Kim say that her ex, Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood) was far better a provider than him, his behaviour has plummeted to new depths in order to prove her wrong.

He won £6,000 alongside Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) when the two placed a successful bet, though the money was soon stolen by Oscar Branning (Pierre Moullier) in a bungled burglary, setting off a chain of events that saw Howie abandon his moral compass in order to claim the cash for himself.

After confirming Oscar’s involvement, he went to battle with Oscar and his sister Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), though when he discovered them handling both the money and the balaclava the roguish Branning had used in the burglary, they admitted defeat and Howie ended up with all the money.

When Kim later destroyed her brand new recording equipment, he took a second job as a parcel delivery man to help raise funds to replace it.

When he discovered the parcel contained a gold necklace, however, he couldn’t resist pocketing it to bolster his earnings.

Next week sees Howie make an enormous step when Patrick catches him with a ring and assumes he’s going to use it to propose to Kim.

He later does, though Patrick’s son, Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey) is curious as to the rings origin when he hears of jewellery having gone missing in the post.

As Kim, floored by the romantic proposal at the Christmas lights switch-on readily accepts, Anthony looks on, suspicions growing.

Howie isn’t stupid, though, and when Anthony finally confronts him with his suspicions, he’s collected some dirt of his own, which he happily throws back in the doctors face, forcing them into a stalemate.

They remain at odds as Kim excitedly plans an engagement party, which, in true soap fashion, doesn’t go anywhere close to plan…

With an show insider promising that a ‘life-changing decision’ of Howie’s will cause catastrophic fallout, could this be where things unravel?