Eastenders fans left ‘shocked’ after huge ‘twist’ in Christmas episode

Brits all over tuned in to finally find out the reveal of one of the biggest whodunnit TV murders of the year.

The eagerly-anticipated EastEnders Christmas episode finally hit our screens after the months upon months of the mysterious death being teased.

In between tucking into roast dinner leftovers and sipping copious amounts of mulled wine, viewers all over have since been left absolutely shocked over the outcome of the beloved soap.

You can check out the dramatic trailer for the festive episode below:

Sharing a teaser trailer for the special episode, the BBC revealed: "Christmas fever is in full swing in Walford as Sharon and Keanu prepare to say, 'I do'.

"The Mitchell family lunch is interrupted by a surprise visitor, while Jay receives an unexpected Christmas present.

"And in a flash, Denise, Kathy, Linda, Sharon, Stacey and Suki’s lives are permanently changed forever as a Walford male meets his fate in The Vic."

Now, we already had some clues revealed about the episode, with the victim previously being confirmed as a male character by producer Chris Clenshaw.

BBC

A promo picture for the episode announced who was up in the rundown for characters who could have been on the chopping block.

It saw the likes of Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo), Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry), Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), Rocky Cotton (Brian Conley) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), who were all standing in the Queen Vic – where the murder would happen – wearing cufflinks that the BBC hinted were relevant in some way.

We were also teased with info on who the six suspects for the grisly crime were comprised of Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) and Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner).

BBC

We now know that the murder victim was fan-favourite Keanu Taylor, who was killed by Linda Carter and fans have since rushed to social media to share their opinions on the decision to kill him off after all this time.

One X, formerly Twitter, user penned: "Well that was a twist. I can actually say I didn’t see that coming and anyone who says they did is a LIE.

"This is the best Xmas day episode in over a decade! Stellar job."

A second said: "I said all along it would be Keanu and as soon as he walked into the pub after Nish got walloped, I knew he’d end up dead."

"They will both survive I reckon," quipped a third, while a fourth chimed in: "The weapon looks pretty deep. I think he’s gone."

Another joked: "I just don’t think we’ve paid enough attention to the cinematic comedy masterpiece that was kathy hills pulling nish’s hair to get him off suki."

"So we now know the reason the soap awards were cancelled lmao they KNEW they wouldn’t be able to compete," echoed a final viewer.

What do you make of the EastEnders Christmas special episode?