Who died at Christmas in EastEnders? Everything we know

(L-R) Jack Branning, Nish Panesar all wearing suits surrounded by yellow smoke., Dean Wicks, Phil Mitchell, Keanu Taylor, Ravi Gulati, Rocky Cotton surrounded by yellow smoke.

Who died at Christmas in EastEnders? (Image credit: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron/Matt Burlem)

EastEnders has had the nation gripped since it was revealed that a mystery male will die on Christmas Day in an epic whodunit storyline.

Back in February, a special flashforward episode showed six Walford matriarchs — Stacey Slater, Suki Panesar, Linda Carter, Sharon Watts, Denise Fox and Kathy Cotton — standing over the body of an unknown male corpse at The Queen Vic on Christmas Day.

Sharon was wearing a blood-splattered wedding dress, while Stacey could be seen with blood on her hands. Denise, meanwhile, was holding a broken bottle of champagne, Linda had a split lip, and the sleeve on Kathy's dress was ripped.

We then saw Sharon stoop over the man's body and reveal that he was dead, with the mystery victim shown to be wearing a pair of amber cufflinks.

EastEnders unveiled the seven men in danger of death this Christmas, but after waiting ten months we finally discovered who met their grisly demise.

So who died at Christmas in EastEnders?

Who died at Christmas in EastEnders?

Keanu Taylor

Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) was revealed to be the Christmas murder victim.

Keanu was murdered on Christmas Day 2023 after Linda Carter stabbed him to death to stop him from killing her best friend Sharon Watts.

After Denise Fox (Diane Parish) smashed Nish Panesar over the head with a champagne bottle to protect his wife Suki, Keanu walked in on "The Six" standing over Nish's lifeless body.

Keanu accused his ex-fiancé Sharon of killing him and attempted to take their son Albie Watts. As Sharon stood in his way, he saw red when she threatened to get him sent to prison for kidnapping Albie and insisted that the tot wasn't his son after the truth was exposed during their wedding.

In a fit of rage, Keanu strangled Sharon and wouldn't let go as the women tried to pull him off her. Desperate to stop Keanu, Linda grabbed a carving fork and plunged it into Keanu's back, killing him.

Meanwhile, Suki managed to resuscitate Nish and he was put in an induced coma.

Victim lineup

Also involved in the Christmas victim lineup were...

Jack Branning

It's possible that Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) may meet his grisly demise given his fractured marriage with one member of "The Six", Denise Fox (Diane Parish).

Things weren't good between the couple for a long time and their relationship spiralled when Denise had a dalliance with Walford bad boy Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).

The pair decided to stay together and work on their marriage, but their relationship hasn't been the same since.

Jack has found himself growing closer to Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) amid his marriage woes and has been supporting Stacey through her stalking ordeal with Theo Hawthorne (William Ellis).

With her marriage on the brink of collapse with Jack, could Denise kill him in revenge for his wrongdoings? Or could it even be Stacey who delivers the fatal blow?

Stacey tearfully confessed to Jack that she fabricated evidence to make it look like Freddie Slater (Bobby Brazier) acted in self defence when he attacked Theo. If Jack were to expose her lies, Stacey would be sent back to prison and forced to leave her family behind once again.

Could a desperate Stacey resort to deadly measures in order to stop Jack from revealing the secret?

But with his feelings seemingly growing towards Stacey, could he be her "knight in shining armour" and be protecting her from something... or someone?

Victim rating: ☠☠☠

Nish Panesar

Evil businessman Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) has made an enemy out of all of the six women at some point during his time on the Square, making him a very likely contender to die this Christmas.

However, his biggest enemy so far is his abused wife Suki, who has been desperately trying to escape her miserable marriage by running away with her secret lover Eve Unwin (Heather Peace).

The pair started having an affair over a year ago, but just as the couple had reunited and planned to run off into the sunset together, their happy ending was harshly snatched away when Nish rumbled their affair.

A furious Nish attacked Eve with a champagne bottle and demanded his son Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) to finish her off.

However, Ravi couldn't go through with killing her and he forced Eve to run away and leave Suki forever. Suki is still oblivious to what her husband did to her soulmate, while Nish has been revelling in making his wife's life a nightmare as she worries about Eve's whereabouts.

Could finding out about the vile attack on Eve make Suki snap and put an end to Nish's relentless abuse after all these years?

Eve is also Stacey's wife and best friend and the matriarch is known for doing whatever it takes to protect her family. If she were to discover what really happened to Eve, something within her would surely explode...

Victim rating: ☠☠☠☠☠

Dean Wicks

Ever since Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) made a villainous return on Halloween, he has been tormenting his former sister-in-law Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) after he raped her in 2014.

The landlady has been in emotional turmoil after her rapist Dean returned to the Square and went into business with the Beales to start a pie-and-mash shop.

Although he was never brought to justice for it, Dean raped Linda and has been protesting his innocence ever since, claiming that Linda has been trying to "ruin his life."

Dean's depraved mind became even more twisted when he blackmailed Linda into falsely retracting her rape allegation so that he wouldn't report her stepdad George Knight (Colin Salmon) to the police for attacking him.

And Dean continues to play his nasty game when he taunts Linda by sending her a picture of him and her son Ollie Carter at the Beale's Eels Santa's Grotto.

His vile nature puts him at the top of the kill list, alongside Nish. But could Linda take her power and stop Dean's reign of terror for good?

Victim rating: ☠☠☠☠☠

Phil Mitchell

Walford hardman Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) has connections to the majority of The Six, but his ex-wife Sharon is keeping a huge secret from him this Christmas— that he is the biological father of her son Albie and not her fiancé Keanu.

But Phil is also harbouring a big secret of his own — he slept with Emma Harding (Patsy Kensit) while he was engaged to Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace).

Currently, Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and Keanu know all about his fling but cheating doesn't stay secret for long in Walford, so it's possible that the bombshell could explode on Christmas Day.

There are six Walford women seen at the crime scene, but could Phil's wife Kat be the seventh member of The Sixth and make the killer move after discovering his betrayal?

There's also the fact that Phil currently has the dreaded amber cufflinks seen on the dead body in the Christmas flashforward.

On his wedding day to Kat, Phil was given a pair of amber cufflinks by Jack, who had acquired them in a poker game from Rocky Cotton. However, the original owner of the cufflinks was Nish. But could the cufflinks end up in someone else's possession?

At the moment, there is not a clear reason why Phil would be murdered and we find it hard to believe that the soap would kill off such an iconic character given that he's cheated death countless times. But could now be the time he meets his maker?

Victim rating: ☠☠

Ravi Gulati

Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) is following in his dad Nish's nasty footsteps as he has also made enemies with multiple of the women involved, especially his former love interest Denise and stepmother Suki.

Ravi has gone to sadistic lengths to protect himself by making Suki believe that she had killed his adoptive father Ranveer Gulati (Anil Goutam) and let her son Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol) take the fall for the crime.

Nish also manipulated Ravi into killing Eve after he walked in on her lifeless body, but was unable to go through with the murder.

Ravi threatened Eve and forced her to run away, leaving Suki behind forever. Meanwhile, Ravi lied to his dad that he had killed Eve and destroyed Eve's phone.

Suki is sure to be hellbent on revenge if she discovers that her murderous stepson is also responsible for what happened to Eve...

When it comes to Denise, she was determined to end the ex-con when he started dating her daughter Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams).

After Denise discovered CCTV footage of Ravi killing Ranveer, she teamed up with Suki to get Ravi put away. However, Ravi quickly destroyed the evidence so she couldn't expose him.

Their attempt failed miserably and the uproar caused Ravi's son Nugget Gulati to run away, leaving Denise constantly in fear of Ravi's wrath.

With him high up in the victim pool, could Denise's attempt at getting rid of Ravi finally pay off this time?

Victim rating: ☠☠☠☠

Rocky Cotton

Former conman Rocky Cotton (Brian Conley) completes the victim lineup. The gambling addict set fire to his wife Kathy's Cafe as part of an insurance scam in a bid to pay off his mounting debts to Nish and the blaze left Kathy's grandsons fighting for their lives.

Now left with nothing, Rocky convinces Kathy to sell her beloved café to Nish under false pretences after he was blackmailed by the formidable businessman.

This disaster is just another that can be added to his catalogue of lies after he confessed to Kathy that he was still married to a woman named Jo Cotton, who later blackmailed the couple for 50 grand or she would report Rocky to the police for bigamy.

Kathy has forgiven him time and time again, but could this be the final nail in Rocky's coffin? Literally!