First look at EastEnders' 35th anniversary boat disaster
Mick and Linda are hanging by a thread as the milestone approaches
Here is your first look at the Queen Vic's doomed boat party set to form the backdrop of EastEnders' upcoming 35th anniversary episodes that leads to at least one shock death.
In a special week beginning Monday 17th February, two days before the actual date of the milestone (EastEnders began on 19th February 1985), staff and punters of the Walford watering hole take to the Thames on a river boat cruise to celebrate the iconic boozer winning a local 'best pub' award.
Unfortunately, the landlord and lady of the Vic are in no mood for festivities with their marriage hanging by a thread after Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) stunned husband Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) by serving him divorce papers.
L's alcoholism has driven a wedge between the once-unbreakable couple, but the show must go on and the boat sets sail with most of the cast on board.
Continuing to hit the bottle, Linda is soon sozzled once more and as viewers have seen in recent months, the more she drinks the nastier she gets. Mrs C is soon out of control and embarrasses her family by taking to the microphone leaving Mick mortified.
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Unsure what his next move will be, Mick struggles to see a future for him and L. Could this be the end of one soap's most beloved pairings?
Events soon take a dramatic turn and the party descends into disaster not just for the Carters, but for the Mitchell and Beale clans too as the surprise returns of Keanu Taylor and Peter Beale (with newcomer Dayle Hudson making his debut replacing Ben Hardy) cause ripples bigger than the ones left behind by the party boat's motor…
Speaking about the upcoming set piece, Kellie Bright, who joined the cast in 2013, teased: "The anniversary week are some of the most epic set of episodes I have ever filmed for the show." Each episodes takes place on the same day but is told from different perspectives, continuing the current soap trend for experimentation and genre-bending seen recently in Emmerdale's Graham Foster whodunnit which used a similar method.
Will whatever EastEnders has in store be as big a surprise to fans as Emmerdale's shock return for Pierce Harris?
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