EastEnders airs reunion for 'Witches of Walford', shock arrest, and Cindy & Max hook-up for Christmas 2025
Another eventful Christmas in Albert Square...
This year's EastEnders Christmas Day offerings offered up plenty more than just turkey and mince pies to digest.
A delicious dose of nostalgia saw three Walford women reunite at the scene of a grizzly death, one resident made an ultimate sacrifice and two enemies unknowingly hooked up.
It comes after Anthony Trueman's (Nicholas Bailey) body was found at the top of The Queen Vic staircase, just metres away from an unconscious Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan).
The two had brawled, but when Zoe fell to the floor, Anthony was still very much alive – and we're still in the dark about who was responsible for his death.
As Zoe and mum Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) pondered their next move, the sound of Elton John rung out from downstairs. No, the megastar wasn't putting in a special guest appearance, but returning Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) had decided to put one of his tunes on the jukebox.
Mother and daughter were in disbelief to see her after two decades, and she wasn't alone. Zoe's presumed dead daughter Jasmine (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) was also there, and finally revealed her identity.
Zoe was in disbelief, and even more so when Chrissie explained that she'd met Jasmine some months ago and orchestrated a plan to make her pay for abandoning her children in hospital.
In an attempt to plead Zoe's case, Kat told Jasmine that had they known about her existence, they'd have been just as eager to find her. But Jasmine didn't want to hear it, and cosied up towards Chrissie.
Luckily, Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) entered the pub, and shone a light on Chrissie that showed her true colours. Rolling back the years, she spoke about the time she and Zoe were implicated in the death of Chrissie's husband Den (Leslie Grantham), despite the fact she had dealt the final blow to his head.
Jasmine didn't know which party to believe. Even if she did want to form a relationship with her mother, the months of torment would be too much of a hurdle to overcome - and she certainly couldn't trust Chrissie.
Meanwhile, on Turpin Road, sparks were flying between Max Branning (Jake Wood) and Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins).
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He'd been kicked out of the Beale household after a punch-up with brother Jack (Scott Maslen), and having drowned his sorrows, headed to The Prince Albert for another drink.
A sorrowful Cindy - who had been excluded from the proceedings to stop her meeting Max - sat there alone, and noticed him knocking on the door.
The two enjoyed a cheeky flirt before she allowed him in to share a bottle of wine, clearly unaware that he was the man who killed her son Steven some years before...
It didn't take long for her to mention that 'Santa hadn't been up her chimney yet' (yikes), and Max was willing to fix that.
Falling into a passionate embrace, they won't have noticed the blue lights and sirens heading towards The Vic...
Despite Kat's pleas that she would sort it, Zoe decided to confess to Anthony's murder. She wanted to show to Jasmine that she was willing to face up to her actions – even though it's quite clear that she wasn't the one who killed him.
Is Zoe about to be sent down for a murder she didn't commit?
Read more:
- EastEnders airs deadly confrontation for Zoe Slater and Anthony Trueman in Christmas Day cliffhanger
- EastEnders airs surprise unannounced return for Christmas Eve twist in early BBC iPlayer release
- EastEnders cast: Who is joining, leaving and returning to the soap?
- EastEnders confirms no early BBC iPlayer release for key Christmas episodes
- EastEnders airs desperate Sam Mitchell scenes as she takes advantage of Nigel Bates in BBC iPlayer release
- EastEnders Christmas and New Year spoilers: Your day-by-day guide as Slater and Branning secrets implode
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Authors
Michael Adams is the Soaps Editor at Radio Times, covering all of the hot gossip and spoilers from Weatherfield to Walford, Emmerdale to Hollyoaks and everywhere in-between. He joined the team from Metro, where he spent two years as a Soaps Reporter and previously worked on the sets of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
