Fans of the BBC soap finally discovered the fate of the long-running The Six storyline during an epic late-night hour-long episode.
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It was revealed that Keanu Taylor, played by Danny Walters, had met his end when he was brutally stabbed by Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) amid a furious second scuffle in the Queen Vic pub.
Linda stabbed Keanu in order to save her best friend Sharon Watts (Letita Dean) as Keanu attempted to strangle her to death.
It left viewers on the edges of their seats with many hailing the episode as the best Christmas Day episode in soap history.
However, show bosses, including executive producer Chris Clenshaw, went to extreme lengths in order to keep Keanu’s identity under wraps and to throw fans off the scent that he could be the dead body this Christmas.
A month ago, The Sun released exclusive pictures of actor Danny ‘filming’ two sets of scenes alongside returning soap icon Jacqueline Jossa.
EastEnders had already confirmed that Jacqueline would be making her hotly-anticipated return as Lauren Branning in the New Year which led many fans to believe that Keanu was safe from falling victim to the murder as a result of him working on ‘scenes’ alongside the star.
The pair were snapped filming at an airport where it appeared some cross words between the two had led to Keanu fleeing the country.
However, it was all a red herring with show bosses cleverly ‘faking’ the scenes in order to throw fans off the scent.
It had also been reported that he had been spotted on set filming scenes for the funeral of character Aunt Sal, again to throw fans’ attention away from him.
The revelation that Keanu had been killed off came after countless theories from show fans speculating over the much-anticipated ending of The Six.
In true EastEnders style, the episode was full of the usual tricks and twists which kept fans guessing right until the very end.
The BBC soap teased the dramatic Christmas Day edition with a flash forward in February showing a future dead body surrounded by six Walford women.
Sharon Watts, Linda Carter, Denise Fox, Suki Panesar, Stacey Slater and Kathy Beale all took centre stage in one of the biggest storylines the soap has ever done.
The potential victims were listed as Phil Mitchell, Jack Branning, Dean Wicks, Rocky Cotton, Nish Panesar and Ravi Gulati.
But last night viewers learned the truth about who died and how but there was a shock twist.
Keanu Taylor was brutally stabbed as he tried to kill Sharon Watts while Nish Panesar was bottled over the head.
Following an explosive at-home showdown, Suki escaped and managed to make her way into The Vic.
On the encouragement of the other ladies, Suki told Nish to come to the pub in order to tell him that their doomed marriage was over so she could be with her lover, Eve.
Upon his arrival, cross words were exchanged before he lashed out and attempted to drag Suki away from the pub.
In order to save her, Denise lunged for a champagne bottle which she cracked right over Nish’s head which saw him lay lifeless on the floor.
As Keanu walked in to see what had happened, five of the ladies attempted to corner him as Suki gave CPR to her husband.
Amid a second brutal scuffle, Keanu was stabbed as Nish took a breath and it was confirmed that he would live on.
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