EastEnders star Kellie Bright, who plays Linda Carter, has revealed that ‘The Six’ women involved in the dramatic events of Christmas Day are in for a bumpy ride in the weeks ahead as they battle to keep their deadly secret under wraps.
In festive scenes in The Vic, Nish Panesar was knocked unconscious with a champagne bottle by Denise Fox when he attempted to drag wife Suki home, who had left him for lover Eve Unwin.
But the bigger horror came following the arrival of Keanu Taylor, who had earlier been ditched at the altar by Sharon when she learnt that he had staged her son Albie’s kidnap. As she vowed that he would never see Albie again, Keanu tried to strangle her, at which point Linda fatally stabbed Keanu with a carving fork.
In the aftermath of the murder, Sharon has fled to Australia, and the other women - Linda, Stacey, Kathy, Suki and Denise - have buried Keanu’s body under the cafe. But Denise has spiralled after discovering her ‘D’ necklace was accidentally buried next to Keanu’s corpse, and Linda has turned to drink to help her deal with the trauma.
And in upcoming scenes, Nish - who has been told by the women that Keanu attacked him - will leave Suki panic-stricken when he says his memory is coming back.
Says Kellie, “The risk factor, I would say, increases week on week. There are many, many moments where everything could come crashing down around them. Of course, it was never going to be easy, was it?
“I don’t know where this story is going to end up. I imagine at some point, maybe, a wheel is going to come off in some fashion, it’s just to what degree. It’s like when Rocky had that moment after Christmas where he was like, ‘Why did I see Sharon in a wedding dress?’
“Obviously, Nish is starting to piece things together…or is he? Is he just pretending?”
The actress adds that it’s unlikely to be some time before Linda reins in her drinking, which is a further risk to the group, given that the pint puller is not in control of her own behaviour.
“Linda’s an alcoholic and she’s dealing with a feeling, an emotion, that she can’t deal with, so she’s numbing that feeling with alcohol; that’s her go-to.
“And of course her life is unravelling, and it’s only going to lead her down a path of even more chaos and mayhem, really.
“But for her, at the moment, she needs it to get through the day. So the drinking is not going anywhere for a while, I think.”
EastEnders fans were memorably teased of a Christmas murder in February last year, and Kellie was told by show boss Chris Clenshaw the following September that her character was the killer - a moment that was captured on camera and shown in the BBC3 Christmas Day show The Six: Revealed presented by Joe Swash.
“I was pretty much as shocked as most people were on Christmas Day when they saw it!” laughs the 47-year-old star. “I was not expecting it, let’s put it that way. It really blindsided me.
“I didn’t think it was going to be any of us, I thought it was going to be someone else and we were going to cover it up.
“When Dean (Wicks, played by Matt Di Angelo) came back, he was my (Linda’s) obvious person to kill, but I thought, ‘That’s too obvious so there’s no way they’ll do that.’
“So I took myself out of the running completely.”
EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now.
