One person will die in Albert Square this Christmas. BBC soap opera EastEnders teased the murder in a flash-forward scene that first aired in February.
In the scene, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) stood over the body of a dead, unidentified male. Who do you think it is? Let us know in the comments.
Although it gave very little away about the murder victim’s identity, there were a fair few things to unpick from the scene. Since February, there have also been several other clues about the Christmas murder so here’s a rundown of everything we’ve seen so far.
Read more: EastEnders viewers all say same thing as date set for George Knight's missing wife revealed
Cufflinks
Perhaps our most important clue as to who's croaked it - the dead body was seen wearing a specific brand of cufflink. They were seen after Sharon, who was wearing a bloodied wedding dress, checked the victim’s pulse.
Linda’s busted lip
Poor ol’ Linda can’t seem to catch a break. Just when she thought she’d had the worst Christmas ever last year, 2023 looks like it’ll be just as traumatic.
In the flash-forward scene, Linda has an injured lip, which suggests that she’s been in a bit of a tussle. Some fans have even speculated that Matt Di Angelo’s Dean Wicks, who raped Linda a few years ago, could be making a comeback to get revenge after she got him sent down by the police.
The broken bottle
Another person who's had a hell of a year is Denise. In the last couple of months she has embarked on a secret affair with Ravi Gulati behind husband Jack Branning’s back.
A shaken-up Denise can be seen with a broken Champagne bottle in the flash-forward scene. Eagle-eyed viewers have spotted a similar brand of Champagne pop up on several other occasions since February. Could it be the murder weapon?
The suit of armour
… Or some call it a knight…. As in, the Knight family, who recently arrived on the Square - read more about them here.
During Monday’s, June 11 episode George Knight (Colin Salmon) installed a suit of armour into The Queen Vic, which is something that Linda was creeped out by. The knight stands behind Stacey in the flash-forward scene.
According to executive producer Chris Clenshaw, the suit of armour has no significance. He said upon the Knights’ arrival on the Square: “Now the knight in shining armour makes sense to everyone. When we shot that scene the Knights weren’t in scripts so everyone was speculating. It’s been with George behind all his bars.” Do you believe him?
The dress colours
In the flash-forward scene (and all promo for the storyline) each of the six women wear boldly coloured dresses. Although it could be an aesthetic, some have theorised that there’s more to it.
The dress speculation first became prominent after an episode which saw Suki find evidence of her ‘killing’ Ranveer. While in the original scenes, Suki was dressed in pink, the footage has now been doctored to make the dress appear blue - the same colour as her flash-forward outfit.
Meanwhile, both Denise and Stacey have also been wearing their own colours in their own respective storylines. Denise wore a green coat throughout her affair with Ravi and Stacey took photos for Secret Cam in red lingerie. Clutching at straws or stroke of genius?
The wedding dress
In the episode that aired the day after the flash-forward scene, Eve (Heather Peace) told Stacey that she had some parcels waiting for her at home. When they opened them, Stacey realised her nan had sent a load of “bent bridal gear”.
When Alfie Moon decided to host a sale to rake in some cash for the Slaters, Sharon herself admired a wedding dress, which happens to be the exact same one as she wears in the flash-forward scene. The same dress was later acquired by Kathy but how does Sharon end up with it at Christmas?
‘Getting rid’ of Nish Panesar
From the moment the flash-forward scene aired, the wicked patriarch of the Panesar family Nish has been at the top of people’s guesses as to who dies. Nish is the man standing in the way of wife Suki and Eve’s happiness and is, to put it mildly, a dreadful man.
After learning that Nish had destroyed evidence that would have freed son Kheerat from prison, Suki turned to Eve and revealed her plan. “We’re going to get rid of Nish. For good,” she chillingly said.
Recent episodes have seen Nish arrested for allegedly ‘pushing’ Suki down the stairs. Could Christmas be the time for her revenge against him?
We are still six months away from finding out who dies at Christmas and we’ll keep you updated with any developments in this murderous case. EastEnders is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
READ NEXT:
