She knows the truth about Lucy's murder so wouldn't exactly come back to the square and hold onto the secret for a number of months when she could easily spill the beans and free her innocent dad from prison. So since Jake Wood is taking a year break, surely Jacqueline can't return in the near future?

I guess she could always return and tries to get the Beales arrested but the police won't believe her for a while...

This new twist in the Lucy storyline requires a Lauren return!

she is returning soon

How do you know?

Isn't she returning in the autumn?

MyLauren is never late, nor is she early. She returns precisely when she means to.

She was at Elstree and waved to us. So she must be back filming. Jacqueline said she is returning.

You did remember to get me MyLauren's number, right mate?! I'll forgive you for not getting Cindy's as the actress is abroad at the moment, but MyLauren's will do nicely.

*delete*

She only comes when she needs to.

For the live of me what actually evidence have they got on Max
Philth already admitted Lucy's stuff was found in the Mitchell house

It's a stupid and illogical idea of Phil, Ben's not going to lie about handing them over to Jane and the phone has since been through other people hands it will have more cross contamination then ever, so it just put several people in the shit without even thinking.

Oh that's fantastic news! I really can't wait to see her interaction with the Beales. I expect drama.

It would be a good return storyline and a reasonable explanation for her returning without Peter, with his brother being responsible for the crime her father is being accused of.

I don't think she's returned to filming yet, It would be in the media if she had or she'd at least mention it on Twitter or something.

I think it was just a visit as she and her fiance posted lots of pictures on Instagram of their family (including the babies) on the set.

Well it was just her in the car and we didn't see her drive in so she must have driven in before I came.

I would imagine that she spends the time before maxs return talking to abi and possibly spilling the beans to her and trying to convince jane to reveal all but habe will have none of it as she is bow a evil psycopath who as ben would say "needs slapping down"

I cannot wait for Lauren's return soon. She needs to give Abi a big lecture. I think Lauren is coming back in September but it will only be a guest role and Lauren will return for good in 2016.

Never mind a friging lecture Abi needs a dam good slap

It's ridiculous that she won't be back next week (unless there's a big surprise in store). The only plausible reason I can think of for her not returning immediately is that she believes Max did do it and is happy for him to get his just desserts. I got the impression before she left that she was only sure that Lucy was killed in the Beales' house. She didn't know for sure who actually did it. She might believe that Max was invited around for a bit of hanky panky with Lucy and things got out of hand.

If she doesn't believe it's Max, then she would surely be on the next flight home. Even by EE "oh, Michelle can't make it to the funeral because the Atlantic Ocean is uncrossable from the US side" standards, her absence would be silly.

Lauren must return alone then without Peter.

Peter told Lauren at Lucy's grave (if I remember correctly) the truth about who killed Lucy. We didn't actually hear him say it since the scene was shot from a distance away but it heavily suggested that Peter told Lauren the truth. The scene was probably recorded before the live episode so that's why we didn't actually hear Peter say the words.

If Max is put in jail pending a trial for this, there is no way Lauren wouldnt hear about it and do something about it. She'd wonder why no messages from Max, or why she can't reach him, Tanya would tell her, her brother must be old enough to talk, online media, surely she and Peter would be keeping a look out the follow up for the case. Even if she didnt physically come to the UK she could still be involved from NZ in pushing people and sorting things for her dad.

Lauren would return to try & get Max freed, so if she doesn't, it would completely blow the whole plot.

Now maybe she comes back and can't prove that Bobby killed Lucy and Max is in prison for a year because she's trying to get evidence, but no way doesn't she come back to try.

It would actually be a way for her to come back without Peter too - if he couldn't watch her try to send his psychotic, twin murdering brother down.

I still don't know if this will be Max's exit though, regardless of Abi - would Carol really leave if her brother was in prison? I don't buy it - I just think Abi's attempted betrayal will be what makes Max decide to leave.

I think Ben and Jay mugged Lucy, but then after that they would have been seen on the CCTV camera robbing the off-license. So they have an alibi for Lucy's murder, but it's still one that will get them arrested. Max, on the other hand, has Abi's testimony that she cleaned up Lucy's blood in the office of the car lot, and the tapes for that time period are all missing - destroyed by Max and David. To the police, why would Max destroy evidence that proved Lucy got up and walked away after her fall? It's circumstantial, but it's more of a "motive" than Ben and Jay have (not beyond the realm of possibility that the beautiful young woman broke it off with the sex-mad, sleazy older man, who reacted badly and killed her, accidentally).

I think it will be Max's exit. As you've said, it's a perfect plot to enable Lauren to return without Peter. Carol's exit will probably be like Tanya's - by that I mean leaving the square when a close family member needs their help.

It's still not enough to charge him for Murder. About has flimsy when they banged Jake up.