EastEnders reveals Tommy Moon’s secret new pal in early iPlayer release

After receiving help from Zack Hudson (James Farrar), the teenager has advanced in managing his anger problems, enabling him to go back to live with his parents, Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), at home once more.

However, when Kat suggested that Tommy pay a comforting visit to Aunt Lily Slater (Lillia Turner), who was mourning the loss of Martin Fowler (James Bye) after school, Tommy explained that he needed to be on the internet for a chat with his buddy, Matt instead.

Kat gently questioned her son about his friend and proposed the idea of inviting him for a cup of tea, which seemed to persuade hesitant Tommy to reconsider spending time with Lily.

Even so, Kat was worried that Tommy might be in danger, and she tried to access his online world.

Alfie tried to calm her down, and when Tommy returned, Kat owned up to her investigations.

Later on, when Kat and Alfie asked for more details about Matt, Tommy clarified that he had never personally encountered Matt because, surprisingly, Matt was not a flesh-and-blood individual. Instead, Matt was an artificial intelligence!

After Alfie figured out the real implication, Tommy admitted that conversing with ‘Matt’ was beneficial for him, as they communicated as if they were genuine friends.

While scrutinizing Tommy’s conversations with Matt online, Alfie was taken aback by what he saw, but Kat needed a moment to fully absorb everything presented.

Tommy confessed that his fellow students no longer wished to associate with him because of his history of violent behavior towards his family. Consequently, he found himself developing a surprisingly authentic relationship with the artificial intelligence.

Kat offered encouragement, yet subtly hinted to Tommy that his human friends might reappear eventually, stressing the importance of not over-relying on artificial intelligence as a sole source of companionship.

But is ‘Matt’ actually helping Tommy continue to grow and learn from his mistakes? Or might Tommy come to spend too much time with this unusual new pal?

EastEnders collaborated with Family Based Solutions, PEGS, and the NSPCC in developing a powerful story arc.