EastEnders 2023 recap – what you need to know for Christmas
In a flash, everything changes...
What a year it has been on EastEnders this year, from new characters to returning unwelcome ones, 2023 has been one for the history books for the BBC soap.
Back in February, EastEnders did something no one had seen done before in the soaps - a flash forward. Now this wasn't just any old flash forward, as viewers got a glimpse into the iconic Christmas Day episode, which saw a man dead on the floor. But who? No one knows!
As the months continued, fans began theorising who the dead body could be and, indeed, which of the six women involved is the killer. It has now all come to a head, and tonight we will finally find out which character met their demise and who is responsible.
But let's take a few steps backhow are these six Walford matriarchs involved with one another? If, like many people, you only dip into EastEnders on Christmas Day, RadioTimes.com has compiled everything you need to know about each six women and how they tie into this episode.
Sit back and grab some popcorn, here's everything you need to know about The Six in the run-up to the EastEnders Christmas Day episode.
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This article contains discussions of sexual assault, stalking, physical violence, alcoholism and domestic abuse, including coercive control, that some readers may find upsetting.
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Stacey Slater
Saying Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) had a difficult 2023 on EastEnders would be the understatement of the year.
At the beginning of the year, Stacey finds out that her daughter, Lily Slater (Lillia Turner), is pregnant at only 12 years old. It is later revealed that Ricky Mitchell (Frankie Day) is the father and when he eventually finds out, his father Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) is furious.
Jack attempts to convince Lily to get an abortion, but when Lily tells Stacey about it, she bans Jack from having anything to do with the baby. However, the families soon come together at the gender reveal and it is revealed Lily and Ricky are having a daughter.
With an extra mouth to feed, Stacey decided to join a site called Secret Cam, in which she poses for some racy photos for money, but things soon turn sinister.
As Stacey joins the site, Freddie Slater's (Bobby Brazier) old teacher Theo Hawthorne (Williams Ellis) offers to tutor Lily for free and soon after, Jean sets Stacey and Theo up on a date – but it is incredibly awkward.
However, it is soon revealed that Theo is Stacey's Secret Cam client, completely unknown to her.
When Stacey discusses her work with Martin Fowler (James Bye), Theo overhears her telling him her client is probably just a desperate old man. An angry Theo then sends Stacey a sexual request and Martin is furious, believing she does more than just send racy photographs.
When Stacey tells her client she won't do the request, Theo asks if it is because of her ex, and that is when she realises her client is someone she knows.
As the weeks continue, Theo begins sending Stacey gifts and when she and Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) try to catch the stalker out and Theo shows up, Stacey doesn't think anything of it.
Things eventually come to a head in September, when Lily gives birth and Stacey finds out that Theo is her stalker.
Stacey eventually tells the police but Theo denies any wrongdoing and they let him go. Stacey then speaks to Jack about Theo and Jack suggests filing a restraining order, but warns Stacey it could take weeks.
The following month, Stacey and Theo are in court but he wins the case and she is left devastated. That same night, Theo sneaks into Stacey's house and attempts to rape her but is fought off by Freddie, who hits him across the head with an iron.
Theo is rushed to hospital and eventually recovers and in recent episodes, viewers saw him sentenced to time in prison.
But is Theo the dead body at Christmas? It's possible. Viewers recently saw Jack tell Stacey that Theo was far away in bail in Scotland, assuring her that he was alone and was checked in on by the police.
In recent weeks, Jack and Stacey have grown closer as they are now co-grandparents. The pair grow even closer when they sleep together, and Stacey later causes Jack's situation to spiral when she interferes in his relationship troubles.
Viewers who identify with Stacey's story can contact the National Stalking Helpline on 08088020300, or visit suzylamplugh.org. You can also visit Safeguarding Hub.
Suki Panesar
When Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) moved into Albert Square, it's safe to say she made a few enemies but there was one person she took a shine to – Eve.
Suki is married to her husband Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) and he first joined the Square in 2022 after serving time in prison. As viewers have seen, Nish has been incredibly controlling towards Suki, from manipulation to threats.
And it isn't Nish who Suki has feelings for. In February 2022, Eve found herself locked in a police van with Suki and the pair confided in one another and by the end of the year, the pair began an affair.
Things came to a head when Suki's son, Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol), found the pair in a passionate kiss as well as Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota) finding out the truth which led to Suki calling things off with Eve after Vinny threatened her with an ultimatum.
In recent episodes, viewers have seen Eve attempt to move on, but realise that she still loves Suki and soon Suki admits she loves her too.
When Suki decides she is going to leave Nish and run away with Eve, she leaves a note for Nish, but when Eve wants to stay one more day in Walford, Suki must return home and collect the letter. While she manages to retrieve the letter, things are too late as Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) has already read it.
Priya blackmails Suki and asks for £3,000 for her silence. When Suki agrees and gets the money, Nish spots the pair and takes the money, leaving Suki back at square one.
In order to bide her time, Suki gives Priya £200 from the Minute Mart till, but when Vinny notes the discrepancy and tells his dad, things turn sinister.
Nish suspects that Priya has stolen the money and so goes to check the cameras and that is where he finds footage of Suki and Eve in a passionate kiss.
Furious, he trashes the Minute Mart and lures Eve to Walford East, pretending to be Suki over text message. When Eve arrives, she and Nish have a confrontation which ends in Nish knocking her out and his son Ravi Gulati covering it all up.
Suki is left devastated when Nish writes a message from Eve's phone, telling her she can't go through with it. As the night continues, Ravi takes Eve to a woodland and prepares to kill and bury her but as she pleads for her life, he lets her live, forbidding her from ever returning to Walford.
With Suki now heartbroken, she joins forces with Stacey to find out the truth and she eventually finds out Nish is behind Eve's disappearance. Suki plans to get her revenge and steals pills from the medicine cabinet at the GP Practice.
However, Nish rumbles Suki and pours his drugged wine on his plate before taking a sip. Suki then reveals all about her affair with Eve and demands to know whether or not she is alive.
Nish lies and claims Eve took £10,000 to leave Walford. He then forces himself on Suki before the police burst in. Later, a desperate Suki sits alone with a bottle of pills, when Eve arrives.
Is Nish the dead body at Christmas? Suki has every motive to do so, and there's only a matter of time before we find out.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in Suki's story, you can visit Refuge for more information and contact 0808 2000 247 for support. Help can also be found at The Hideout.
Linda Carter
Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) has had a difficult time in the last few years, and with her one true love, Mick Carter (Danny Dyer), disappearing last year, she has been struggling even more.
Linda is horrified when Carly Wicks sends her a photo of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) and beside her is Shirley's younger son and Linda's rapist, Dean Wicks (Matt DiAngelo).
In 2014, Dean raped Linda in the Queen Vic's kitchen. Linda kept what had happened a secret until the truth emerged on Christmas Day, when Mick found out Dean was his brother.
After the truth of what Dean did was revealed, he denied it and claimed it was consensual, while Linda reported the rape to the police. Dean as released due to a lack of evidence and Shirley stood by him.
Dean remained on the square and began a relationship with Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) in which he attempted to her rape until Shirley stopped him. Dean denied his crimes and in turn was cut off by his parents. He was later found not guilty and was released from prison and was paid by his father to stay away.
Back in May, Linda joined forces with her mother, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe), and new business partner. Soon after, a new era in the Queen Vic was upon Walford as Elaine's fiancé and two children joined them.
Linda was no longer on her own and seemed to be doing well, however this all changed when Dean returned to Walford and became business partners with Cindy (Michelle Collins) and Ian Beale (Adam Woodyat).
While under the guise of wanting to be closer to his ill daughter Jade Green (Elizabeth Green), Dean began to torment Linda, denying what he did to her.
Linda joined forces with Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and put up flyers about Dean, which led to the word rapist being spray painted across the front of his new shop.
Dean told Linda he would sue her, and he continued to antagonise her until George slapped him, which had him flying down the stars of the Queen Vic.
After surviving, Dean told Linda he wouldn't go to the police if she said that he didn't rape her. While battling with what to do, Linda eventually told Dean he didn't rape her, and unbeknownst to her, he recorded the whole thing.
Viewers will be aware that weeks later, Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) called Dean a sexual predator in front of his daughter, with Linda backing him up. This led to Dean playing the voice recording on speaker in front of everyone at the Queen Vic.
The stress from everything that happened led to Linda turning back to alcohol and breaking her sobriety.
But is Linda capable of murder? All will be revealed on Christmas Day.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in Linda's story, you can visit Refuge for more information and contact 0808 2000 247 for support. Help can also be found at The Hideout and Rape Crisis.
Sharon Watts
Things seemed to have turned a corner for Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), especially when the father of her child returned. Keanu's return signalled a new leaf for the pair, but when she found out he had slept with Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf), she wanted nothing to do with him.
Much like any couple in Walford, the pair made up and even got engaged! But things took a turn for the worst when Keanu called off their engagement after learning Sharon betrayed him by letting Lisa Fowler leave Walford for Portugal with his daughter.
A few months later, things were still off between the former lovers and Sharon wouldn't always let Keanu see their son and it looked like it was becoming permanent when a job opportunity arose in Abu Dhabi and she planned to take Albie with her.
Keanu devised a plan in which he would marry Sharon and take Albie for himself, but his plan backfired, which led to him staging the kidnapping of Albie!
Keanu lied to Sharon and the police that he had taken Albie to the park and when he went to get ice cream, both Albie and his buggy had disappeared, but he was with Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) all along.
Keanu pointed the finger at someone who had previously threatened Sharon, but when the police reached a dead end, Keanu wrote a fake ransom note asking for £50,000.
With the help of Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), Karen took the money, but all she did was collect Albie from her sister's partner, who had allowed Albie to stay over.
When Albie returned, Sharon and Keanu grew closer and got engaged... again.
Karen was less than impressed with the developments and she decided to keep the £50,000 for herself. The Taylor matriarch began splashing the cash, and a suspicious Phil began investigating where all her new money came from.
With the help of Sam Mitchell and Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall), Phil found out Albie had stayed with Karen's sister the night he disappeared and found stacks of his marked bills underneath Karen's bed.
After collecting all the evidence, Phil burst into the Queen Vic and revealed all about the sick scheme to a horrified Sharon. Knowing he would never see Albie again if Sharon found out the truth, Keanu pretended Karen acted alone and had duped everyone all because she wanted money.
This led to Karen and her family packing up and fleeing Walford, leaving Keanu and Bernadette Taylor (Clair Norris) as the only people who know the truth about Albie's kidnapping.
Will Sharon ever find out the truth?
Sharon also recently found out that the father of Albie is in fact not Keanu, but rather Phil. Talk about a plot twist!
Following Albie's fake kidnapping, Sharon decided to take him for some tests to make sure he was okay, and she was nervous when the doctor asked her to come to the hospital to discuss Albie's results.
It was revealed Albie tested positive for the genetic condition Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency.
Sharon spoke with the doctor alone, who told her that AAT can increase his risk of lung conditions. The doctor then recommended testing both of Albie's parents to check for further issues, as both parents need to be carriers of the gene for the child to have it.
The doctor confirmed to Sharon that she is a carrier for the gene, but that Keanu was not. The doctor then asked if there is anyone who could be Albie's father... and it's Phil!
While it's unclear if Phil will ever find out the truth, Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) overheard Sharon and Linda discussing it who then marched home to spill all.
However, Sharon warned Kat that if she told Phil and ruined her life, Sharon would, in turn, ruin Kat's life.
Now, there is no clear motive for Sharon to kill Phil, or for any of the six women for that matter. But he is front and centre on the promotional pictures for Christmas Day.
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Denise Fox
Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Jack Branning haven't exactly had the most harmonious marriage, and that became apparent when Denise gave into temptation with Walford bad boy Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).
After feeling sidelined by Jack, Denise began enjoying the attention Ravi gave to her and the pair found themselves in a passionate kiss when Jack let Denise down on Valentine's Day.
Following weeks of propositioning Denise, he made it clear he wanted to be with her and asked her to spend the night with him.
After putting plans in order for Phil to look after Raymond and for Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams) to check in on Amy because she was going to visit Libby, Denise headed to the hotel to be with Ravi, but she hesitated.
While Denise did meet Ravi at a hotel, she chose not to sleep with him and returned to her family. Later on, she told Ravi that Jack was investigating him and so Ravi ordered Denise to give him the evidence or he would tell Jack about their string of kisses.
When Denise refused, Ravi began dating Chelsea in order to get close to the evidence, but he then fell for Chelsea.
While all of this was going on, Ravi's son Nugget (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) overheard the truth and told Denzel Danes who told Amy Mitchell!
Amy (Ellie Dadd) issued Denise that she didn't want to ruin their family if Denise promised to never do anything like that again. Feeling less anxious about it all, Denise went to check on Amy, who was drunk with an empty bottle of wine.
Feeling bad about what happened, Denise told Jack what happened and that Amy's drinking was down to her.
Denise came clean and an angry Jack confronted Ravi and exposed him.
Following the fall out, Jack and Denise have another go at things, as do Ravi and Chelsea, but things come to a head when Denise accuses Ravi of being a murderer.
Viewers will remember that in 2022, Ravi killed his adoptive father Ranveer (Anil Goutam), but Suki was led to believe that she was responsible as Ravi kept quiet about the truth.
Meanwhile, Denise and Jack went for drinks with Chelsea and Ravi and the evening took a turn when Denise helped Nugget make a music playlist with Suki's old laptop.
Ravi was horrified and caused a scene when he took the laptop. A suspicious Denise then took the laptop and with the help of Ricky Jr, found a file in which she saw Ranveer attack Suki and Ravi's killer actions.
As he stood over her watching the video, Ravi broke the laptop into pieces, leaving no trace.
Denise's storyline also crosses over with Suki because after her discovery, Suki asked Denise for the truth and told Denise she believes her.
While Suki told Nish about what happened, he insisted there was no truth to Denise's claims, but that didn't stop Suki from forming a plan of her own.
With the help of Denise, Suki attempted to record Ravi confessing, but Ravi was one step ahead and threatened to hurt Kheerat in prison if Suki persisted.
Meanwhile, Chelsea falls apart and dumps Ravi as she is unable to trust him after what she had heard, leaving Ravi furious with Denise.
With both Suki and Denise having clear motives to want Ravi out of the picture, could Ravi be the dead body on Christmas Day?
Kathy Cotton (née Hills)
Kathy has had quite the disaster of a year, especially when it came to her love life.
While it was meant to be the happiest day of Kathy's life as she prepared to wed Rocky Cotton, she was left furious when she found out Rocky lost their Greek cruise honeymoon money to Nish at poker on his stage do.
Kathy confided in Elaine that she didn't think she suffered fools, yet she was let down again. Despite her doubting her future with Rocky, Kathy went ahead with the wedding and unbeknownst to her, Rocky's ex-wife Jo showed up.
Jo warned Rocky there had been an "error" and they were still married, meaning if he married Kathy he would be a bigamist.
Despite knowing this, Rocky married Kathy and things took a turn when Jo showed up at the pub.
Rocky confronted Jo in private, accusing her of making things up and then Kathy walked in and warned Jo off. Jo explained that Rocky was a bigamist facing up to seven years in prison, but Rocky and Kathy refused to believe her.
Jo then revealed that she had never signed the divorce papers and that the decree absolute Rocky gave to the registry office had been forged.
It was then revealed that Rocky knew about this all along, and she announced the truth in the pub before a fight broke out between her and Kathy.
Jo demanded that Kathy and Rocky pay her £50,000 to keep quiet and the pair did just that. Kathy emptied out all of her savings and took out a loan to pay Jo off.
As the year continued, Kathy and Rocky hit rock bottom and were keeping up with making payments to pay off the loan, however, Rocky began gambling a lot of that money away.
Rocky's gambling worsened and after he took out yet another loan and this time from Nish Panesar, their money issues continued to spiral.
With Nish breathing down his neck for the money he owes, Rocky took a drastic gamble. Knowing there were many electrical faults at the cafe, Rocky decided to tamper with the electrical and start a fire in order for an insurance payout.
However the flames engulfed the cafe much faster than he had assumed, leading to the cafe to explode whilst Bobby Beale went in to extinguish it!
After realising Bobby was trapped, Peter Beale went in to save him but was knocked unconscious in the process.
While Bobby and Peter recovered, only two people knew truth behind the fire: Rocky and Harvey. Harvey Monroe cut off Rocky after finding out the truth and things finally came to a head when Kathy called him out for ignoring them.
Kathy urged Harvey to tell the truth after Nish made a comment about the fire being an insurance job, and Kathy was left heartbroken and furious when Rocky finally told her the truth.
Kathy kicked Rocky out of the family home, leaving him heartbroken and nowhere to go.
But could Kathy be pushed to kill? All will be revealed on Christmas Day.
Read more:
- EastEnders' Chris Clenshaw: 'Jay will get unexpected Christmas present'
- EastEnders' Jacqueline Jossa on Lauren return: "She's Max's daughter and always will be"
The EastEnders Christmas episode airs on BBC One on Christmas Day at 9:45pm.
Visit our dedicated EastEnders page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide.
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