EE- who's going to take over from Ben?

Ben was pretty much the next big thing in eastenders. Not only was he a brilliant character, but his storyline also caused the likes of Phil, Jay, Ian and Shirley to up their game as well. He just seemed to fit in to the show so natrually and interacted well with characters from Lucy Beale to Derek Branning. I was looking foward to him taking over from Phil one day but that's not going to happen now thanks to the spineless producers.

After he leaves, what would be the next big story/character? There is Michael rinsing Janinie and Jean but since no one really cares about either, it's not going to have much of an impact.