EastEnders celebrated its 38th anniversary with a female-led episode on Monday, January 20. The special, which was billed as featuring a life-altering event', ended with the shock death of a mystery character in a flash-forward scene, the first in the BBC soap opera's history.
In the final moments of the episode, 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) all made a toast to the men that have wronged them. The scene then cut to black and faded into a flash-forward scene that takes place at Christmas this year.
Show boss Chris Clenshaw said of the show's first flash-forward scene: "We were looking for a vehicle for The Six (women) – Linda, Suki, Kathy, Stacey, Denise and Sharon – to come together, and we were looking for an episode to get viewers really excited as we set up an event that they'll hopefully look forward to all year."
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During the future scene, which seems to take place at Sharon’s wedding, the six women stood around a dead, unidentified male. The camera pans across the room to first reveal a worried Linda with a shocked look on her face. Then, it moved to Suki and Kathy, who looked at the body, whilst Stacey had blood on her hands. Sharon's wedding dress was also bloodied and Denise held a broken wine bottle. Nothing gives away who the man might be, only that he is wearing a suit and jewelled cufflinks.
After Sharon remarks that the man is "dead", the theme tune began and fans will now have to wait 10 months until the storyline is resolved. There was a huge reaction to the flashforward scene on social media.
"EASTENDERS U CANT GIVE US A TEN MONTH CLIFF HANGER??" wrote one person after the shocking cliffhanger. While a second wrote: "Oh #EastEnders what an ending that was!"
A third fumed: "Oooohhh FFS we have to wait till Christmas to see who's dead," and a fourth added: "HOLY MOTHER OF WALFORD! Is it Christmas Day yet?! Cannot wait to find out who that is. It probably isn’t who we initially think."
"Superb episode! I am on a countdown," a further person commented and another agreed, writing: "Omg! I need to know who /he/ is #EastEnders"
The likes of Phil Mitchell, Nish Panesar, Keanu Taylor and Dean Wicks have all been suggested as the identity of the mystery corpse. Who do you think it is? Let us know in the comments. EastEnders continues on BBC One on Tuesday, February 21 at 7.30pm. For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter here.
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