Shona Mcgarty
“Whitney thinks that everyone sees her as a heartless murderer…”
Whitney takes drastic action to avoid her looming prison sentence this week, and plots to do a runner before her trial!
Having been charged with Leo’s murder, Whitney knows that if she’s found guilty, she’ll be locked up for a very long time. And with Leo’s mother Michaela still hanging around the Square, making her life a misery, Whitney decides that the only option she has left is to flee Walford for good…
“Whitney just feels as if she can’t cope right now,” sighs Shona Mcgarty, who plays her. “She has no fight left in her any more, and the only way that she can get away from it all is to run. She doesn’t want to leave, as she would miss her family so much, but her head is all over the place.”
Whitney was already at rock bottom when Michaela turned up on the Square last week and started making trouble for her. However, things go from bad to worse when poor Whit finds out that Leo’s meddling mum has been posting awful things about her online.
“Whitney’s still quite run-down and vulnerable, so she feels sorry for Michaela at first,” Shona tells us. “Also, she doesn’t want Michaela to think that she’s a nasty person who killed Leo on purpose.
She wants to give her some closure on her son’s death.
“When Michaela starts posting hurtful comments about Whitney online, Whit doesn’t know at first,” adds the actress. “Then she starts getting funny looks from the other market traders, and she realises something is going on. Once Whitney discovers the truth, she’s distraught.”
Despite her loved ones’ best efforts to keep the truth from her, Whitney crumbles after she finds out that Michaela is trying to ruin her life. It falls to her relative Max to step in and try to give Whitney a pep talk about fighting her charges. But after Max opens up to her about his own time behind bars, Whitney decides to take drastic action to avoid being locked up again.
“Max and Whitney have a bit of a heart-to-heart,” confirms Shona. “He talks about his own experience of prison and says, ‘You’re not going back there, you need to keep your head up and keep fighting’. Whitney appreciates Max looking out for her, and it’s nice for her to have someone to talk to. This is a really upsetting time for her, and she just feels very anxious about it all.”
However, as Whitney’s lawyer Gray does everything he can to keep her out of prison, he doesn’t realise that Whit is taking matters into her own hands! And, when we see her clutching her passport, it will become clear to viewers what Whitney is planning…
“With everything that’s been posted online by Michaela, Whitney thinks everybody sees her as this heartless and cold murderer,” shares Shona. “She feels as if people are judging her, and she just can’t stay, so she wants to run away.
“She has no money, and she doesn’t know where she’s going to go,” continues the star. “All she knows is that she has to get away from Walford.”
So as Whitney plots to do a runner from the Square – and the law – will anyone realise what’s going on and stop her? Or does Whitney risk getting herself into even more trouble if she makes her escape?
“Whitney just feels as though she can’t cope right now…”