EastEnders legend Alfie Moon (played by Shane Richie) returned to Walford earlier year right at the moment that his ex-wife Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) was about to marry Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and he’s been causing havoc ever since then.
Alfie has set his sights on winning Kat back, but – as usual – nothing ever goes smoothly when it comes to Alfie and he’s found himself caught up in a number of capers on the journey to getting his family back together.
The latest calamity came earlier this week when a masked robber got into the back of Alfie’s taxi and overheard him discussing the £30,000 in Phil’s safe during a phone call with Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) before Alfie was forced to open the safe and hand over the money at gunpoint.
Now, Alfie finds himself in even more hot water as he must find a way to replace the money in the safe or find himself at the mercy of Phil Mitchell – and that’s a fate that no one wants.
However, many fans took to social media after the scenes aired earlier this week to blast the storyline as “ridiculous”.
One tweeted, “Why didn’t Alfie say it was a fake safe and fake money.
“This man will have just walked in front of several security cameras with a gun. This whole plot is completely ridiculous.”
Another fumed, “Exactly. Storyline is pathetic!!!!! I’m getting sick of EastEnders now it’s too ridiculous.”
A third remarked, “Alfie Moon used to be a likeable character, then he went away and came back as the most annoying character ever to be in #EastEnders,” while one more wrote, “How many of these ridiculous Alfie storylines are these writers going to trot out? I love Shane but he's being made to play a caricature rather than a realistic person.”
However, there were others who enjoyed the storyline, with some pointing out the scenes offered light relief from the soap’s other storylines like Lola Pearce’s brain tumour.
Earlier this week, Closer caught up with Ben Mitchell actor Max Bowden at the TV Choice Awards and he revealed how good it has to have Shane Richie back on set.
Max told us, “Shane [who plays Alfie Moon] is back. He's absolutely brilliant, he brings so much to the show and not just as an actor but as a cast member.
“Me and Jamie [who plays Jay Brown] are in fits of laughter all the time and at the moment we need that.”