In scenes to come from EastEnders, Rocky Cotton (Brian Conley) may be the latest murderer in Albert Square before he leaves the BBC soap opera.
Rocky’s resources are nearly nonexistent at this point, and he is on the verge of collapse since Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) is counting on him to repay his debt.
Nish insists that Rocky take a car from the dealership in order to pay off some of the debt, knowing full well that Rocky has no way of repaying him.
Rocky has little option but to comply with Nish’s orders, but he is unable to carry them out after speaking with Jamie Borthwick’s character, Jay Brown, about life after his nearly deadly automobile accident.
Rocky quickly determines that disclosing his whole financial status to his wife Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) is the best course of action after realizing that his time is running out.
But just as he’s ready to go to the Vic to break the news—and her heart, of course—Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) stops him, and they strike up a discussion that leads to an idea.
In a fit of rage, Rocky thinks he’ll set the café on fire. Rocky believes that this is a certain (excuse the pun) way to get the money needed to pay Nish back. All he needs to do is light the fire, accuse it of being caused by the electrical issues they were already experiencing, and file a claim for damages with the insurance.
Rocky thinks he has the ideal strategy, but his closest buddy Harvey Monroe (Ross Boatman) quickly tells him not to do it and says he would tell Kathy everything if Rocky does.
Rocky keeps thinking about starting the fire, but Harvey’s remarks linger, so he decides to go back to the bookies in the hopes of striking it lucky.
Harvey withdraws his earlier offer to take out a loan after discovering that Rocky has resumed gambling. Regretfully, a burst of wins is followed by a massive loss.
Rocky carries out his plan and sets fire to the café since he has nowhere else to go before leaving to see Kathy, who is obliging.
Rocky is unaware that Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell) would see the fire and quickly try to put it out. Unfortunately, though, things finish tragically when Bobby is stuck inside the café when it explodes.
Has Rocky’s risky scheme killed Bobby? And if Kathy ever finds out, how will she respond?
Is this the path that leads to Rocky’s departure?