EastEnders star Brian Conley has admitted that his character Rocky may have gone too far to win back forgiveness from wife Kathy (Gillian Taylforth) again.
Since arriving in the Square two-and-a-half years ago, Rocky has been caught up in lies multiple times - including pretending to be the long-lost father of Sonia (Natalie Cassidy) and keeping the fact that he was still married a secret from Kathy.
Rocky is now secretly harbouring a gambling addiction and last month, having racked up serious debt, he set fire to Kathy's cafe to claim on the insurance - but the plan went badly wrong and her grandson Peter (Thomas Law) almost died in the blaze.
"Kathy obviously has put up with a hell of a lot since the wedding!" said Conley, who will be exiting the soap this Christmas.
"He's so optimistic about the future and he tries to remain positive always, but I think he knows in his heart that it will be asking a hell of a lot from her to forgive him. But you never know, goodwill to all men and hopefully at Christmas the magic fairy will come down and change everything and put it all back to normal, but I think that's very unlikely."
In next week's episodes, after reluctantly agreeing to sell the cafe to Nish (Navin Chowdhry), Kathy finally learns the truth that Rocky started the fire - and heads straight to confront him.
"I mean the fact that it is Christmas, Kathy might find it in her heart to forgive him," Conley continued, "but I don't think she will and he would have to do a hell of a lot to win back her trust. She has forgiven him in the past because their love is so strong and they truly love each other.
"All of this was to try and help the situation as they got deeper and deeper into debt and Rocky saw this as the only answer.
"It was always because he loved Kathy and he wanted to make it all right so maybe she will see through all of it and realise that's what he was trying to do. But he has burnt down her caff, so we'll have to wait and see."
EastEnders continues Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and from 6am on iPlayer.
> Picture Spoilers: Next week on EastEnders (Dec 11-14)
Neil Wilkes
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