Ben Mitchell and Callum Highway’s world utterly destroyed by crime as Max Bowden exits EastEnders

Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) is set to face the prospect of a life behind bars in EastEnders when he’s arrested next week after arranging a surprise birthday party for Callum Highway (Tony Clay).

The much-loved mechanic hasn’t made plans to celebrate his husband’s big day and thus Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) and Lexi Pearce (Isabella Brown) swoop into action, encouraging Ben to mark the occasion.

Even Phil (Steve McFadden) chimes in, offering his son some romance advice and, afterwards, Ben decides to organise a party in Callum’s honour.

The celebrations get underway and Callum is genuinely touched by the gesture, with Ben relieved to have averted disaster. Little does he know, however, what’s about to unfold.

Ben’s final chapter begins as he and Callum find themselves on opposite sides of the law again

The police arrive at the Vic to arrest Ben, taking him away to the station. Ben is quick to protest his innocence as he’s held at Walford police station after details of a previous crime emerge.

Back home there is tension aplenty as Jay, Phil and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) work out what to do, with Phil getting Richie Scott (Sian Webber) on the case.

Lexi arrives home to find the family in the middle of a heated argument and she demands to know the truth. Ben, meanwhile, gets in touch with Phil via phone call – and he has quite the request for his dad.

Later in the week, Jay takes Lexi to visit Ben at the police station but things don’t exactly go smoothly, with Lexi getting upset and deciding to leave.

Back in the Square, Callum has a word with Phil, who isn refusing to see Ben, hoping to make the Mitchell hard-man see sense and stop by the prison to visit his son, encouraging him to give Ben a second chance.

Kathy, meanwhile, grows suspicious of Phil and wastes little time in confronting him – but will she get the answers she’s looking for?

That remains to be seen but, as the week comes to an end, the Mitchell clan are left trying to deal with the fallout of Ben’s arrest while Callum uses his profession to his advantage.

The question is: will it do him any good? Or will he be throwing his own career down the drain in a bid to save his husband from serving jail time?

You’ll just have to tune in and find out.

The storyline in question will seemingly serve as Ben’s exit, with a spokespersonfor EastEnders having confirmed to us earlier this year that Max Bowden is leaving the show after five years.