Lucy’s Del boy: Eastenders’ tearaway Lucy Beale is do date new Derek Branning son Joey and soap bosses hope they will become a classic pairing

Lucy’s Del boy: Eastenders’ tearaway Lucy Beale is do date new Derek Branning son Joey and soap bosses hope they will become a classic pairing

Soap bosses want the pair, played by Hetti Bywater and David Witts, to become a classic pairing like the legendary Sharon and Grant.

They get close after he steps in to help with her money troubles as she struggles to keep the Beale empire afloat after her dad Ian goes AWOL. And when his gangster dad Derek starts to terrorise her, Joey proves to be Lucy’s knight in shining armour and becomes her secret weapon.

He makes his explosive entrance to the BBC1 soap this week when he arrives and punches Derek in the face to win back his sister Alice.

But Alice is determined to stay loyal to her dad so Joey resolves to show her what kind of man their father is.

David, who has recently started filming for the part, admitted: “Joey knows that if he’s going to be around Lucy then it’s going to annoy Derek.

“He will absolutely relish that, because anything which riles up Derek will show his true colours.

“There will be a slight attraction between Joey and Lucy, as he can see that she’s a pretty girl.

“But certainly at the start, it seems as though she’s being used by Joey to annoy Derek.”

An insider added: “Hetti is a really good actress and they have brought in David as the perfect foil.”