EastEnders’ Eve Panesar-Unwin (Heather Peace) comes to a painful decision about her future as a parent when her estranged mum Norma arrives in Walford next week.

Eve and her wife Suki Panesar-Unwin (Balvinder Sopal) recently embarked on a journey to adopt a child, but hit a stumbling block when Eve is told she would need a reference from her own mother to continue with the process.

Scenes that air this week see Eve thrown into turmoil as she’s faced with the idea of having to reconnect with Norma.

But after some soul searching, the couple nervously welcome Norma to Albert Square next week, as they try and explain their hopes to adopt.

Heather Peace, who plays Eve, says her character ‘feels trepidation’ as her mum arrives, revealing: ‘Eve believes that the entire adoption process relies on this reference. She can get other references, but they specifically requested one from before Eve had a criminal record.’

Fans of the BBC soap will remember that Eve has a complicated relationship with her mother, having become estranged from her parents after they refused to accept Eve as a lesbian, as well as he death of her twin sister.

The pair were reunited off-screen in Yorkshire last year when Suki’s poisonous ex-husband Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) had Norma brutally attacked in a ploy to get Eve out of the way so he could split her and Suki up.

However, that does not mean the pair are on good terms when Norma turns up at No. 55 next week.

‘Norma is very uptight, and I think she’s a bit of a narcissist,’ says Heather. ‘She commands the room and decides what the mood is, which is very uncomfortable.

‘It’s very obvious that she doesn’t really approve of Suki and Eve’s relationship. Norma has her nose in the air a lot of the time, and she toys with them a little bit too.’

Eve and Suki do their best to impress Norma, but things don’t go to plan, with Heather revealing: ‘There are some twists and turns, but when they start talking about proper stuff, it all blows up again.’

When Norma questions Eve’s capabilities as a mother, her mum’s words play on her mind, and Eve later makes a heartbreaking decision, telling Suki she no longer wants to go ahead with the adoption.

With the couple thrust into another crisis, Suki turns to Lily Slater (Lillia Turner) for help, but is this really the end of the road for their adoption journey?

Heather certainly hopes not.

She says: ‘I think Eve’s experience with Norma will make her a gentler, more unjudgmental parent.

‘Eve’s had some great parenting experience having been so close with Stacey’s kids, and also with supporting Avani and Nugget. I think she’d make an absolutely fantastic mum.’