In the interview with Maddy Hill, she says that a secret in revealed in tonight's episode!!!

So Shirley being the one who tried to drown Mick isn't the only secret?

Let the speculation begin....

deleted - I messed up!

There is an episode tonight

It's Friday where there isn't an episode

Check the TV guide...

I immediately did as I had a bad feeling once I had written the post. Oops!

We as viewers I think tonight we find out from a conversation that stan and Shirley has that Shirley's micks mum which is then revealed to mick in June/July that big story Leo Richardson was hinting about.

The top characters in the cast list are: Shirley, Phil, Dean and Mick. Could Phil turn up with Dean just as something else is revealed?

The more I think about it, the more I think Shirley could be Mick's mother. I've only thought that since Tuesday though....I really don't know why though.

What?!? How old is Shirley supposed to be, then?

Micks 37 Shirley's 51

89 but for the sake of having a father..... No older then fifty....

If DTC makes Shirley, Micks mum it be the same old rehashing of previous storylines which he was adamant he wasn't going to do.

IF there's another secret, I don't know what else it could be.

It's going to be interesting to see how Shirley explains what happened.

Another secret.. I think drowning Mick is enough to deal with. I'm going to guess some sympathy plot to try and excuse Shirls behaviour or she is his mother, both awful imo. Hopefully it's something good.

They did say there was a big storyline for them coming up.

I have a weird feeling they are going down the Kat/Zoe road with this one, purely going with the way Shirley looked at Mick while Dean was chatting to her about his job.

I'm hoping it's something else though.

I didn't think Shirley could be Mick's mother but as the programs progress I now think she could be. She would have been 14 when she had him if she's his mother. This could be the big shocker secret for the Carters.

I've been wondering whether Shirley is Mick's mum since January or February. It was just this one scene. Mick was sleeping on the sofa in the lounge, Shirley came in, pulled up the blanket round his shoulders, and then - stroked his hair. Not like a sister would, but like a mother would. But then I saw people saying on DS that it was a ridiculous rumour, and would never happen.

To be fair, it could be slightly different from the Kat/Zoe story if Shirley conceived the baby willingly (ie she wasn't raped.) But then it would be similar to the Ronnie/Amy story, and wasn't DTC part of the team who did that?

But next week, it says Mick and Shirley decide to move on. How could Mick move on from being drowned by his sister, or that his sister is realky his mother?

So she is his mother and didnt bother seeing him for years?..aand she hated her dad so much cos of the secret?? Or pretended she hated him when really she didnt want the bath truth to come out? Im getting a bit confused about it all

Someone already made the comment to Shirley about if her dad had done something to her, she made it clear, no...

If Shirley is Mick's mother, then Stan better not be his father. That is the line that NO SOAP should cross. Though if she is his mother, it might explain why she walked out on her other three kids since she felt guilt about giving up her oldest, and Shirley would be in the same category as Carol and Jack: 4 kids by 4 different people.

Why not? It happens in real life? Why should soaps not be able to show a child born of woman and her father? Why not?

Well DTC did promise a "major twist" this week. Considering the viewer was always meant to suspect that Shirley had been the one to try and drown Mick, I really don't think it was that.

That being said, I've been afraid of them going down the Shirley-being-Mick's-mum road for months now and I HOPE it's not that...

As I said in my post, Stan doesn't need to be the father. Shirley could have had the baby with some random. Stan could then have taken Mick on as his own son - but he might not be.

Maybe the secret isn't related to Shirley - maybe we find out more about Mick's time in care?

However, as Phil goes to persuade Dean to see Shirley again, maybe those scenes will mirror what we see the Carters going through; Shirley telling Mick she's his mother?

Was Dean brought back to give Shirley her son back, or was it to give this storyline even more fall out when he finds out?

It would be far too obvious and hackneyed to make Shirley Mick's mother. That's just so overdone these days.

I think it will be revealed that Shirley once did a poo in the pet goldfish's bowl.

Growing up believing that your mother was actually your sister is actually more common then people think. Jack Nicholson, Ted Bundy, Eric Clapton, Bobby Darin, Sir Paul Nurse and Steve Lickteig grew up believing their mothers were their sisters. And since its only been done in Eastenders ONCE and that was over a decade ago, I don't see the problem.