We’ve barely recovered from Mick Carter being washed away at sea last Christmas, but EastEnders have already teased what’s coming up on this year’s festive episodes and there’s still a whopping ten months to go until the big day.
The soap surprised viewers with a show first last night as we saw a flashforward to December 2023 showing Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) all caught up in what looked like a murder scene.
The identity of the victim is, of course, being kept under wraps until the big reveal at Christmas and all we know for now is that the person who met a grisly end is a man as Sharon said, “He’s dead.”
Following the explosive scene, fans immediately flocked to social media to share their thoughts on who could be murdered and we’ve rounded at the most common answers to see who could possibly end up dead at Christmas.
Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo)
Although he's not be seen on Albert Square since 2016, Linda got a nasty surprise during last night's episode when she saw that her mother-in-law Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) had reunited with Dean, Shirley's youngest son and the man who raped Linda back in 2014. Could Dean return to Walford with his mum only to end up dead at the hands of Linda and the other women? Fans definitely think it's a possibility.
One tweeted, "Kathy literally said, 'If Dean does come back you will have a wall of friends to protect you.' Is that not hinting?"
Another said, "I'm thinking it could be Dean who is killed x."
Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden)
Being one of the most iconic EastEnders characters of all time, many viewers have speculated that Phil could be killed. After all, he has a link to all six women as he has been married to both Sharon and Kathy, shares a son with Denise, has been in Alcoholics Anonymous with Linda, is in a relationship with Stacey's cousin Kat and is rivals with Suki's husband Nish.
Christmas is already set to be an important time for Phil as he's agreed to postpone his and Kat's wedding to Christmas Day. But, as we know all too well, anything could happen in Walford - could he end up marrying Sharon instead and will it lead to his untimely demise?
"It’s definitely Phil as Kat hinted about a wedding," remarked one viewer on Twitter, while one more added, "If Phil dies I’m not watching this again."
Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) []{href='https://twitter.com/KanoCounty/status/1627961991494004736' }
Viewers have watched Nish manipulate and control his wife Suki ever since he left prison and they're set to have their marriage blessed even though Suki is very much secretly in love with Eve Unwin (Heather Peace). Will Suki finally have enough of her husband's torment and kill him off? Or could Eve be the one to murder Nish?
Nish is one of the hot favourites to be murdered, with fans speculating that he's the dead body laying on the floor of the Queen Vic.
One fan commented, "Stacey will Kill Nish, I call it now!"
Another theorised that Nish could end up dead after spotting a clue. They wrote, "I wonder if the song in the background of the flash forward is a clue? So it was 'Stay Another Day', which means it could be that Suki is leaving Nish for Eve and he's trying to get her to stay with him."
Jack Branning (Scott Maslen)
With his daughter Amy self-harming and his son Ricky about to become a father at the age of 12, Denise's marriage to Jack has been well and truly put through the wringer lately - so much so that she gave into temptation and kissed Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) on Valentine's Day when she realised her husband had forgotten to make plans.
Local copper Jack has been investigating Ravi lately, so could he uncover evidence of Denise's affair? And if so, could it have fatal consequences for him?
Some viewers certainly think so, with many suggesting that he could end up dead after confronting Denise over her cheating.
Ryan Molloy (Neil McDermott)
Ryan, the father of Stacey's eldest daughter Lily, recently made an explosive return to Walford after learning that Lily is pregnant at the age of 12. Not only did he try and convince their daughter to move halfway across the country to Wakefield to live with him and his wife Helen, Ryan also dropped the bombshell that he was slashing his child maintenance payments to the bare minimum.
With Stacey and the rest of the Slaters already struggling financially, many fans have suspected that Ryan's actions could drive her to kill him should he return to Albert Square.
While we don't know if Ryan is set to show up in E20 again, he's definitely considered one of the favourites to be the murder victim.
EastEnders continues Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.