Soapland abides by the ‘Chekhov’s gun’ narrative principle to story writing – that if a gun is introduced in a story, it should be fired later in the plot.

And so my ‘spider sense’ tingled when, as a lifelong Eastenders fan, a couple of weeks ago I watched the character Jean Slater’s joy at discovering she had a pension that she didn’t know about. This wouldn’t be mentioned unless it was for a storyline… cue the dramatic ‘duff duff’ Eastenders' end music playing in my head.

Soon came her phone calls from a ‘pension adviser’, telling her that her current investment returns were “shocking” and that he could put her money into something “turbo-charged”, a “green energy tech start-up” offering returns of “10-15 per cent”.

This, along with the high-pressure tactic of informing her that he was about to go on holiday, meaning she needed to sign the paperwork quickly so that he could process her transfer, confirmed my suspicion that the soap was to highlight pension scams as a storyline.

We in the industry know the warning signs for a pension scams. But, despite our many efforts over the years to bring this knowledge to the wider public, we will never have the reach a prime-time soap can in highlighting awareness.

Therefore, soaps have a responsibility to educate their viewers as realistically as possible (within the heightened drama confines of a soap of course!) That’s why I’m very pleased to hear that the makers of Eastenders have worked with The Pensions Regulator (TPR), amongst others, to accurately portray the process of a pension scam being undertaken.

TPR executive director of regulatory compliance, Gaucho Rasmussen, said of the storyline: "We commend the BBC for tackling such an important and complex issue in this storyline.

"By bringing Jean’s experience to prime-time television, millions of viewers will become more aware of pension scams, potentially empowering them to recognise and resist similar approaches from fraudsters.

"Sadly, our work continues to uncover the real-life damage caused by pension scams. But while the threat of scams and fraud is ever-evolving, so is our response.”

“This storyline is not just compelling television – it’s a reminder of the real-world threats to pension security.”

The soap also portrayed people’s reluctance to face up to the idea that something may be a scam.

Jean was excited at the idea of having extra money to buy a retirement home in Greece, for her family to be able to visit for holidays, and felt irritated and defiant by her partner Harvey and friend Kathy’s expressions of concern, thinking that they were treating her like a child who can’t be trusted with her own money.

However, it took her struggling to directly contact the scam company for the penny to drop for Jean, with this week’s final episode showing her devastation as realisation hit.

Speaking about the storyline, EastEnders' executive producer, Chris Clenshaw, said: "Jean’s story will highlight the extreme strategies scammers use to gain a victim’s trust to convince them into parting with serious sums of money.

"Not only will Jean have to cope with losing her pension money, but she’ll also have to deal with a range of difficult emotions as she tells her family and friends what’s happened."

Hopefully, by being able to portray in detail the insidious ways scammers work, and the devastation a pension scam wrecks, fewer people will end up in Jean Slater’s position.

That’s a pensions industry plotline we’d love to see.

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