The actor at the centre of a huge EastEnders twist has reacted to the soap’s revelatory Christmas Day episode.
Fans of the BBC soap have been waiting for the conclusion to a mystery presented in a surprise flashforward episode back in February.
Set on Christmas Day 2023, the instalment teased the death of a male character, whose body was shown to be surrounded by six characters: Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth), Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal).
For the last 10 months, EastEnders viewers have been speculating about who will be killed as well as which of the six characters would be revealed as the murderer – and, in the latest episode, the mystery was finally answered.
*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*
In the closing moments of the hour-long episode, Linda kills Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters). Making the moment more surprising was the rug-pulls preceding it: Denise was shown protecting Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) from her abusive husband Nish (Navin Chowdhry) by smashing a bottle over his head, with many originally assuming Nish to be the victim of the mysterious murder.
Nish survived the attack, though – but Keanu is not so lucky. When he comes to the Queen Vic, he becomes violent with Sharon, who cancelled their wedding after discovering he orchestrated the kidnapping of her son Albie. As he tries to strangle her to death, Linda, unsure what to do, ends up stabbing him in the back to protect her best friend.
Bright, who has played Linda since 2013, was shown discovering the news that she would be the murderer on a BBC Three spin-off show discussing what has been one of the soap’s longest-running storylines in its 38-year history.
When executive producer Chris Clenshaw told Bright the news in September, she replied: “Are you joking? Oh no. I don’t mind being the murderer. Oh Jesus, why have you done this to me? You know what’s the first thing going through my head? Now i’ve got to not tell anyone.”
When asked how she feels upon learning the news, Bright added: “I didn’t see that coming. What’s going to become of me? Murderers go to prison.”
Kellie Bright discovers Linda is Christmas Day murderer— (BBC)
Fans of the BBC soap are now expressing their worry for Linda’s fate on social media.
“SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME THIS DOESN’T MEAN SHE’s LEAVING ??!!“ one person wrote, with another adding: “Her career flashing before her eyes at the prospect of Linda going to jail…”
An additional fan chimed in: “Linda Carter better be getting away with it cause I can’t lose her.”
The EastEnders Christmas Day special is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
