Stella scarpers and angry Phil sets off in hot pursuit and confronts his crazed bride on a rooftop – before she tumbles onto the bonnet of the wedding car.
But did she fall or was she pushed?
“Phil is shocked and disgusted,” says Steve McFadden, who plays him.
“He can’t believe what poor Ben’s been through. He’s beside himself with guilt and he races after Stella. There’s no way he’s going to let her get away with hurting Ben.”
As the week opens, frightened Ben tries to stay out of Stella’s way by spending time with Abi.
The young friends decide to run off to Scotland – until an emergency visit to the vet’s with Abi’s guinea pigs alerts her family.
Stella finds out the youngsters’ plan and goes ballistic. She smashes a photo of Ben’s mum Kathy and tells Ben he will be sent to a home like his sister Louise.
“Phil has no idea what’s going on,” adds Steve. “Stella has been very clever.”
After Phil almost walks in on them, twisted Stella overpowers poor Ben and promises him, once they are a family, the torture will stop.
But just before the wedding Ben tells Stella he doesn’t want her to marry his dad.
She tells Ben she will kill him if he stops the wedding and claws at him.
Later, just as the wedding is about to take place, Ben stands up and begs for help.
Blood from Stella’s scratchmarks is seeping through his shirt and Phil rushes to his son’s aid.
“Phil is horrified,” says Steve. “At first Stella tries to say Ian has been hurting Ben, but Phil soon realises the truth.”
As Phil tries to look after bleeding Ben, Stella runs out, leaps into the wedding car and speeds off.
“It takes Phil a few minutes before the news sinks in, which is enough time for Stella to do a runner,” explains Steve. “But Phil is not far behind.
“There are so many things rushing through Phil’s mind. ‘How long has this been going on? How did he not notice?’
“As he chases Stella, he vows to make her pay. Phil confronts her on the rooftop of a tall building.
“I don’t want to give anything away – but she doesn’t stay up there for long!”
Don’t miss EastEnders Vixens: The Rise And Fall Of Stella on Friday, BBC3.
ALSO, ambitious Denise is determined to get the manager’s job at the post office, but doesn’t help her chances by slagging off her mean boss Mrs Masood.
Denise is forced to grovel and apologise. However, she doesn’t know that Mrs Masood already has secret plans to replace her with her daughter Shabnam!
“Zainab Masood is very rude,” reveals Nina Wadia, who plays the newcomer.
“It’s nice to be a bit of a bitch as you don’t normally get the chance in real life.”
First, Denise sets off to work in a suit to impress visiting Mrs Masood.
But Denise angrily criticises her boss to customer Yolande and Mrs Masood overhears her outburst.
“Mrs Masood teases Denise as she tries to say sorry,” explains Nina, who starred in BBC comedy series Goodness Gracious Me with Meera Syal.
Mrs Masood accepts the apology and tells Denise she pays her to work, not to like her.
But she says if Denise wants a promotion she will have to apply for it.
Later, Mrs Masood returns to the post office with Shabnam and asks Denise to train her up.
Denise reluctantly agrees, but has no idea Mrs Masood plans to give Shabnam her job.
and from The Mirror:
SHE may have got fiance Phil suited and booted and down the aisle for the fourth time, with his mum Peggy and their few friends smiling happily at the posh wedding venue.
She may also be wearing a meringue of a dress, diamonds and a tiara, and delightedly enter the room hand in hand with a trembling Ben at the ceremony on Thursday.
But for all that, we always knew that Cruella Stella’s dream of a fairytale wedding and a happy ever after were never going to come true. Although even she couldn’t have predicted that she’d end the day flat on her back on the bonnet of Phil’s new Jag – and extremely brown bread.
Chillingly played by Sophie Thompson, the deluded, demented and dangerous Stella joins a terrifying band of nutcases who have recently stalked Soapland, including Mad Maya in Corrie and Psycho Steph in Emmerdale.
And like them, she has to get her ultimate comeuppance for physically and mentally abusing 11-year-old Ben over the last few months in some of Ender’s most uncomfortable scenes.
‘Shut up, you snivelling little coward,’ Cruella snaps at him as she throws a picture of his beloved late mother Kathy on the floor and stomps on it.
Unfortunately, there is far worse to come for the forlorn lad as he and pal Abi Branning unsuccessfully try to run away. Knowing the fate that awaits her friend, Abi gives him ‘a stone of courage’ on the morning of the nuptials, and urges him to tell his father about Stella’s relentless abuse.
But the wicked stepmother-to-be seems to have a far greater hold over him. ‘I will kill you in your sleep if you don’t walk through that door,’ she hisses at him, digging her nails into his chest just before the service. ‘I will suffocate you in your bed. And your daddy will find your little dead body in the morning…’
Young Charlie Jones gives a moving performance as the terrified boy who is somehow brave enough to speak up just as Phil puts that treasured band of gold on Stella’s finger.
‘Can somebody help me?’ Ben pleads as blood seeps through his shirt.
After the psychological drama of the week, Friday turns into an all-action finale as Stella makes her escape and avenging Phil furiously chases ‘the bunny-boiling nut job’.
Trapped high on the edge of a factory roof, Stella has nowhere to run.
‘Yer nuffink,’ Phil growls as he closes in on her. ‘I chose you because you were easy. I chose you because you were safe. I fort you’d look after Ben, iron me shirts, an’ keep yer mouth shut for 30 years.’
Plunging to her death, she will now. But does she fall… or is she pushed?
So very true! How did they manage that?