Gray Atkins has been struggling under the pressure of all in EastEnders. As a result, he has resorted to his aggression on Chantelle Atkins (Jessica Plummer)’s wife once, but— now that Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) is out of jail — there is no doubt that pressure is going to be ordered to get her acquitted and prove himself— something that could be illegal.
Chantelle was nothing but supportive of Gray, although she struggles under the strain of being everyone’s going-to-solicitor. He was used by all those in Walford who spoke to him to represent Whitney — not to mention serving Kush (Davood Ghadami) as well— and he found himself unable to cope. Interestingly, it was Chantelle who let out his rage as he grew more and more abusive to her as the weeks went by.
Matters got more complicated after Gray lost his employment as a result of not being able to secure Whitney’s release. As the word spread throughout Walford, it was Chantelle that he held responsible— and delivered his most violent attack on her so far.
The solicitor had a revelation last week when he learned that Leo (Tom Wells) had been hiding out in Whitney’s loft — confirming that he posed a threat to her and strengthening her self-defence deal. During last night’s episode, he managed to get Whitney’s bail, and so the table was set when he went to battle in an attempt to get her acquitted. Yet with Chantelle still unwilling to forgive him for the awful attack — and the burden on her again is Gray going to resort to his violent ways back?
If so, will Chantelle end up being killed this time? We’ve seen what Gray is under pressure, and his new assault has been his most violent to date. With the tension of the murder trial — not to mention Chantelle’s understandably off with him after the assault — it’s likely that his evil nature will rear his ugly head again. This is unless Mitch (Roger Griffiths) first learns what his son-in-law is.
