EastEnders fans have likened Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) to iconic villain Steve Owen (Martin Kemp) as he and Jack Branning's (Scott Maslen) rivalry escalated during last night's episode (Thursday, March 23).
Recently in EastEnders, husband and wife Jack and Denise Fox (Diane Parish) have both been keeping secrets about Ravi. For Denise, it's the fact that she had a brief affair with him, while Jack is in the middle of a police investigation into him.
In a bid to get Ravi to stay away from her, Denise made the dangerous decision to tell him that he was being investigated and he then blackmailed her to become his informer or he would expose their affair to Jack.
Since then, Ravi has started a relationship with Denise's daughter Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams) in his evil game to get closer to the investigation and antagonise the couple.
After a hint from Detective Callum Highway (Tony Clay) that Ravi may have been told about the investigation, Jack had an inkling that Denise may have had something to do with it.
He demanded to know the truth about Denise and Ravi and accused her of telling Chelsea about the investigation in a bid to put her off the ex-con.
Denise lied and vehemently denied Jack's claims before she furiously stormed out of the room.
Later on, Jack showed up at Walford East and asked Ravi why he had been "sniffing around Chelsea", before Ravi began provoking Jack over his relationship with Denise.
An angry Jack then demanded to know who told him about the investigation, before the criminal laughed and offered him a deal.
"How about I back off Chelsea, but in return, you stop threatening me and my son and tell me everything I need to know," Ravi said.
Jack turned down the deal and promised to get him locked up, before announcing to Denise that he had been taken off the case because of Ravi's relationship with stepdaughter Chelsea.
As well as comparing Ravi to legendary villain Steve Owen, fans couldn't help but also compare Ravi and Jack's rivalry to Steve and his arch-nemesis Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
Steve first arrived on the Square in 1998 and quickly became one of the most memorable soap villains when he murdered his obsessive ex-girlfriend Saskia Duncan (Deborah Sheridan-Taylor) and framed his DJ employee Matthew Rose (Joe Absolom) for the crime.
He then had a violent feud with Walford hardman Phil, before becoming enemies with Phil's best friend Dan Sullivan (Craig Fairbrass) due to their connections with Steve's girlfriend and future wife Mel Healy (Tamzin Outhwaite).
Their conflict kept escalating when Steve continuously antagonised the Mitchell family, before becoming the prime suspect in the 'Who shot Phil?' storyline.
Eventually, their long-term feud came to a brutal end in 2002 when Steve was killed in a vehicle explosion after he crashed his car during a car chase with Phil.
Fans took to Twitter to liken Ravi to the infamous Steve and thought that Ravi was a good villain...
Ravi is the modern day Steve Owen and no one can change my mind. #EastEndersFebruary 15, 2023
That scene was so good, jack vs ravi could be the next phill vs steve 🤞🏽 #EastEndersMarch 23, 2023
i do not understand people complaining about the ravi/denise/jack sl being dragged out. it only got to a new level a few weeks ago? and ravi is such a good villain and this is showing him slowly unravel and become more desperate. it’s a proper soap story! #EastendersMarch 23, 2023
EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now.
