HAVE MY BABY, TIFF!

Will Tiffany agree to be a surrogate for desperate Stuart and Rainie? We ask Eastenders’ Ricky Champ...

They’re so desperate to be parents that Eastenders’ Stuart and Rainie this week offer Tiffany £10,000 to be a surrogate mother. The pair hatch their plan after visiting a fertility clinic in the aftermath of Rainie’s phantom pregnancy shock.

Ricky Champ, who plays Stuart, explains, ‘The choice of Tiffany is Rainie’s. Tiffany’s young, local, trustworthy, they like her, and she’s just started working at the funeral parlour. She’s an easy choice.’

Tiffany (pictured) and her husband Keegan could use the cash – but will they agree to the proposal? ‘It’s definitely a tempting offer as Keegan and Tiff need the money for their future,’ says Ricky. ‘But it’s a big decision for anyone to have to make, let alone someone as young as Tiffany.’

Rainie and Stuart are certainly serious about the plan after discovering that Rainie wasn’t pregnant after all and her positive test result was wrong. They got the devastating news during a check-up after Keegan crashed into her on his bike.

The trauma meant it was touchand-go for the marriage of the former addicts, with Rainie threatening to leave Stuart. ‘They were both bitterly disappointed to learn Rainie wasn’t pregnant,’ says Ricky, 40. ‘But though it looked like he and Rainie were going to split up, she didn’t leave.

‘They’re good together, have got a bit of money, and neither has fallen off the wagon in a while. I don’t think there’s much on the planet that could get between them, and viewers seem to look forward to seeing what these two are going to be up to next.’

Given Stuart’s past failures as a parent, Ricky, a married dad-of-one from Southend in Essex, thinks it would be different this time. ‘Stuart’s

messed things up with his daughter Zara and saw this as another chance to be a good father, so he was fully intending not to make the same mistakes. He has lots of great qualities to be a dad. He has a lot of love to give, is protective and can be funny and caring. But his unpredictable nature could rear its ugly head again. Zara won’t see him, which is the epitome of a failing parent.’

Ricky, who has been in Eastenders since 2018, also reckons Rainie would make a good mother. ‘A baby

would rejuvenate her,’ he says. ‘Stuart thinks Rainie would be an incredible mum. If they’re together and happy, they will be the best parents.’

Ricky’s enjoying working on Eastenders despite social-distancing rules. ‘It’s down to the people I work with,’ he explains. ‘We’ve got a great cast and crew. The new measures make it a longer process, although we’re always finding better ways of doing things. But I do just want to hug my workmates!’ ■