EastEnders star Jake Wood has said his character Max Branning's sham marriage to Rainie Cross will become "very messy" in the months ahead.
With fans of the soap already reeling from the news that Max and Rainie have tied the knot, EastEnders dropped the bombshell on Friday night that their marriage is a sham.
Max has married Rainie (played by Tanya Franks) in a bid to get custody of his granddaughter, baby Abi.
Max gets down to business! 👊
— BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) April 27, 2018
Will this go down in history as Walford's worst marriage EVER? 😧
⚠️#EastEnders is back on Monday at 8PM.⚠️ pic.twitter.com/LWN8dyIeur
After a visit from a social worker, Max told Rainie: "You're a crackhead loser who is going to mess everything up for me and Abi, unless you sort yourself out.
"Don't you understand? I need everyone around here to think I'm happy and settled and living in
domestic bliss.
"I married you, Rainie. It's a business deal. Business.
"You listen to me. You ain't going to get a penny, not if I don't get Abi.
"So from now on you had better start working a damn sight harder."
"Of course, those are two very complicated characters," actor Wood told the BBC.
"I think the beauty of what the writers have done, putting those characters together, is that we'll see how it plays out over the next couple of months, and how they're going to come to an arrangement with this."
"Rainie is very vulnerable," Wood continued. "She has a very complicated history, especially with her history of drugs. She's currently clean, and is hoping to stay that way.
"But as we'll see, they've both got their own needs for pursuing this goal and Rainie's are financial, yes. But it's going to get complicated. They're great characters and it's a bit of a heady mix - it's very exciting."
Wood warned that he thinks Max is "willing to go to any lengths to get what he wants".
"It's going to get very, very messy over the next few months and the test is whether they're able to stick to the plan or not. But yes; it's going to get very messy for the pair of them."
EastEnders airs on RTÉ One and BBC One on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
