EastEnders fans can’t be getting too merry on the big day.

By Lewis Knight

Published: Wednesday, 20 December 2023 at 19:33 PM


Fans will need to tune in live on Christmas Day for their EastEnders fix.

The BBC One soap has confirmed to RadioTimes.com that the epic instalment will not be released early on BBC iPlayer at 6am, as has become the custom on the soap.

The Christmas episode – which will finally reveal the killer and the victim in a murder teased back in a flash-forward back in February 2023 – will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9.45pm on Christmas Day 2023.

However, the BBC has also confirmed that the aftermath episode due on Boxing Day will be released early on BBC iPlayer at 6am.

This means that fans will have only a matter of hours between the murderous events and what comes next.

Fans are aware that a group of Walford matriarchs now dubbed ‘The Six’ – Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), and Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth – will be left standing over the dead body of a man by the end of the Christmas Day instalment.

Letitia Dean walks down the altar as Sharon Watts in a wedding dress with son Albie in EastEnders.
What will happen on the day Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean, centre) tries to find family happiness?
BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron

Much of the action is set to revolve around the wedding of Sharon to partner Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), but both are hiding immense secrets. Keanu was secretly involved in a staged kidnapping of Sharon’s son Albie, while he is also unaware that Sharon’s ex-husband Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) is Albie’s real biological father. Will ‘Sheanu’ get a happy ending?

Elsewhere, Linda is reeling following her relapse into alcoholism after the return of rapist Dean Wicks (portrayed by actor Matt Di Angelo), Denise Fox (Diane Parish) deals with her crumbling marriage to Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), and Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) nurses a broken heart after discovering Tom “Rocky” Cotton (Brian Conley) burned down her cafe as part of an insurance scam and almost killed her grandchildren.

A smoky image of Scott Maslen as Jack Branning standing beside Lacey Turner as Stacey Slater, Navin Chowdhry as Nish Panesar beside Balvinder Sopal as Suki Kaur Panesar, Matt Di Angelo as Dean Wicks beside Kellie Bright as Linda Carter, Steve McFadden as Phil Mitchell standing to the left of Letitia Dean as Sharon Watts with Danny Walters as Keanu Taylor on her right, Diane Parish as Denise Fox with Aaron Thiara on her right, and Gillian Taylforth as Kathy Cotton with Brian Conley as Rocky Cotton beside her for EastEnders.
The possible victims with their possible murderers in EastEnders
BBC

Finally, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) are entangled in the danger posed by Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) after what recently happened to Eve Unwin (Heather Peace).

We will have to wait and see which man involved in proceedings winds up dead…

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EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.

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