Whitney Dean to seduce Max Branning?

EastEnders' Whitney Dean will try to seduce Max Branning, despite him being her best friend's dad.

The troubled teen - played by Shona McGarty - will be offered a job manning the phones at Branning Brothers when kind-hearted Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) realises just how strapped for cash her friend is after being left homeless when her step-mum Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer) got sent to jail.

Shona explained: "Max asks Lauren to work at the car lot, but she tells her dad to offer the role to Whitney. Lauren knows that her friend needs the money right now. Whitney enjoys working there, but she's not very good at taking calls.

"And she's actually quite uncomfortable being around Max, as she has a bit of a crush on him!"

After the vulnerable youngster develops a crush on Max (Jake Wood) - who reminds her of her manipulative step-dad Tony King (Chris Coghill) - she decides to make her move.

However, when a horrified Lauren walks in on the canoodling couple she accuses her dad of attempting to seduce Whitney in the same way he developed a relationship with his son's wife Stacey (Lacey Turner).

Shona added to Inside Soap magazine: "Max intervenes in a row Whitney is having with Janine (Charlie Brooks) and she's really grateful. After everything that's happened, she thinks back to when she was involved with Tony. She sees Max as Tony and that's when she kisses him.

"Lauren walks in on them and accuses her dad of trying it on with Whitney like he did with Stacey. Max demands that Whitney explains what really happened - but then Janine encourages her to lie. She's manipulating the situation yet again."