Eastenders has been on particularly good form for a while now.  Linda has been breaking my heart in every scene; Suki and Eve set the screen on fire with a mere look across the counter at the Minute Mart; Zack’s diagnosis is moving and frustrating in equal measure; I am so confused by the fact that I actually like Sam Mitchell now; I wish Denise would just ditch both Jack and Ravi because they’re both a waste of space; the sensitive handling of Lily’s pregnancy has been fantastic and every episode leaves me crying out, “Why can’t Whitney just be happy?!  Why?!”

The writing is so engaging and one of the best things about the show at the moment, I think, is that it has some of the strongest female characters it has had in a long time: Linda, Denise, Suki, Stacey, Kathy, Sharon, Kat, Jean, Eve, Whitney, Chelsea, Shirley, Kim, Karen… the list goes on.  Women who have lived.  Women who have loved.  Women who have suffered.  Women who have survived.  Women who are strong.

And this shone at its brightest in last night’s special episode, written by Daran Little, where Linda, Kathy, Denise, Sharon, Stacey and Suki all had a lock-in at the pub.  All with their own problems.  Linda was distraught over seeing a photo of Shirley with rapist, Dean on social media.  Kathy stepped up to support her, a rape survivor herself.  Denise was still flip-flopping between neglectful, dinosaur husband, Jack and wannabe lover, Ravi while Sharon had just had sex with Keanu and then found out he’d had a fling with Sam (his third Mitchell woman) while living in Spain.

And my favourite moment of the episode was the heart to heart between Stacey and Suki, who opened up to her about her marriage and about Eve.  The dialogue was absolutely amazing throughout the whole episode but especially here.  I loved the way the episode was filmed – it almost felt live.  I felt like I was right there, on a night out at The Vic.  The writing was brilliant and all the actors brought their lines to life.

And then came the twist!  Once the women toasted the awful men who have used and abused them, we flashed forward to Christmas 2023 and a wedding.  However, it wasn’t Kat and Phil’s wedding, as discussed earlier in the episode (they changed the date to ensure that Lily would be in Walford, not with Ryan, as requested/demanded).  It was Sharon in a wedding dress (either that or she really didn’t get the memo over what not to wear to a wedding!) and Kat wasn’t even there…!

Stacey had blood on her hands and looked shell shocked (remembering Archie’s death, perhaps?)

And Denise had a broken bottle in her hands – so, did she do the deed?

The man in question was wearing cufflinks so he must have been attending the wedding… so someone Sharon cared enough about to invite?  The groom?  Keanu?  Phil?!?!  No way, would they kill Phil off.  But why would anyone kill Keanu?

Who else is Sharon close to… Ian?  Is he coming back?!  Zack?  Martin?

Or is it not about Sharon at all?  Just a guest…?  I mean, the obvious would be Nish.  He’s been controlling Suki.  If these women have bonded this night, if he attacked Suki, did they step in and protect her?  But wouldn’t Eve have been involved in this story somehow?  Or has he found out about them and killed her?!  NO!  That is NOT ACCEPTABLE!

Or Ravi?  Does he go too far with Denise?  Or Jack?!  His anger has been spiralling rather out of control…  Any of these women’s husbands/partners would have been invited to Sharon’s wedding – Rocky, Jack (or Ravi?), Nish…  I mean, there are a few characters I could happily nominate to get killed off if you’re taking a vote…!

Could it be someone who just infiltrated the wedding?  Kathy promised Linda that they would protect her from Dean no matter what.  The lock-in started because she was so distraught over the photo.  She never got justice for what he did to her.  Is this the final conclusion to that story?

So, in conclusion, I have no idea what’s going on!  But I am SO excited to find out over the next ten months!  This is the first time, to my recollection that Eastenders have played with time in this way.  Hollyoaks did it at the end of 2019, flashing forward a whole year, from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Eve and then the pandemic hit and production got shut down for months.  Things got so rushed and confused and I don’t think it turned out the way they wanted it to.  I for one, completely lost the whole thread of the story.  By the end of it, one of the characters was being played by a completely different actor than in he was in the flash forward!  It was such a monumental, never been done before thing for them to do and felt so sorry for them that it all got so mixed up.  I really hope everything goes smoothly for Eastenders.  I have really high hopes for this story and I am so excited!  It already has me completely hooked!