EastEnders boss has teased ‘lots of drama’ surrounding Joel Marshall as ‘things come to a head’ in his controversial storyline.

Fans of the BBC soap were convinced for months that the troubled teenager was the son of Zoe Slater, sharing various theories ahead of Michelle Ryan’s return.

However, that theory was thrown out the window last week when it was revealed thatZoe had twins in 2006, prior to when Joel was born.

Since Max Murray’s character was introduced alongside his dad Ross Marshall and Vicki Fowler, Joel has been heading down a dark path.

To date, Joel has filmed him having sex with Avani Nandra-Hart without hew knowledge, showed Tommy Moon explicit videos online and shamed both Kat and Stacey Slater over their romantic histories.

Ross was stunned last month when he gained access to Joel’s laptop, discovering that he had been sharing violent sexual videos involving women and leaked images from Stacey’s SecretCam account.

It recently emerged that the storyline exploring how misogynistic content affects teenagers will receive a BBC Three documentary.

The documentary will feature contributions from members of the EastEnders cast as it seeks to shine a light on some of the darker views of young men.

With fans debating just what the show will do with Joel going forward, EastEnders Executive Producer Ben Wadey has teased that things will escalate in the coming months.

“This week kicks off a really big autumn for us. There’s lots of drama ahead for lots of different families. We’ll have seen a few stories really building recently.

“We’ve got Joel’s story that will come to a head in the next couple of months, we’ve got Lauren, Peter and Oscar, with plenty of drama to unfold there,” he told Metro.

Meanwhile, another storyline set to take centre stage in the run-up to Christmas is Zoe adjusting to life back in Walford, having been shot last week after reuniting with Kat.

Ben teased: “And of course, Zoe is now back in The Square. Zoe and Kat’s relationship is really complicated. 20 years there for them to recover and try to get to know each other.

“Kat has been expecting one thing when Zoe would come back, but to meet your adult daughter is more complicated than Kat thinks. There’s a lot for them to get to understand about each other.

“Zoe’s got a lot of secrets that she’s going to bring into The Square with her. The Slaters are in for a whole ride this autumn.”