Eight huge EastEnders clues that ‘gave away’ who the Christmas Day killer was over a YEAR before it played out on screen
EASTENDERS fans were shocked to find that Keanu Taylor became the Christmas day victim - but what clues did the BBC soap giveaway before the big reveal?
For ten months, viewers had been speculating about the identity of the culprit and their target.
Earlier this year, in February, a glimpse into the future revealed that a yet-to-be-identified male character would meet his demise at The Queen Vic during on Christmas Day.
Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) was brutally stabbed as he tried to kill Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) while Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) was bottled over the head.
Horrified that Sharon prevented him from seeing Albie (Arthur Gentleman), Keanu attempted to strangle her forcing The Six to intervene.
In an attempt to stop him, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) seized a knife and fatally stabbed him, leaving his lifeless body on the floor.
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Fans were shocked but here are eight clues you may have missed.
1. Linda's opening of the flash forward
Linda and Keanu are the first two regular characters to appear in the flash forward episode.
Before tapping Keanu on the back, Linda rang the bell behind the bar for last orders.
The phrase "for whom the bell tolls" has become somewhat of a slogan for this storyline, with the imagery of a bell tolling in all of the trailers symbolising the death of a man.
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Linda tolled the bell and then immediately touched Keanu could have been the first of several clues dropped by EastEnders pointing to Keanu’s death at Linda’s hands.
2. Linda's trailer for The Six
EastEnders released individual trailers for each member of The Six and Linda seemed to be cleaning up blood upstairs in the Queen Vic.
This hinted that the murder did not take place in the bar where viewers thought it would take place.
The murder took place outside of the bar, but not upstairs like Linda’s trailer suggested.
Linda was later seen wiping blood off the murder weapon before hiding it beneath her bed, which could have been what the trailer was symbolising.
3. Keanu's stag do
The next clue happened before the wedding when we saw a banner in the background during Keanu's stag do.
The message, "Hello wife, goodbye life," was spotted by sharp-eyed viewers.
At first glance, the message could have been a dig at losing independence after getting married.
However, after the events on Christmas Day, viewers can see it served as a foreshadowing for his unexpected death.
4. The fire and song 'stay another day' by east 17
The next clue was from back in February during first ever a teaser and flash forward scene.
One fan on social media pointed out: "I'm now convinced that the body on the floor at Christmas will be Keanu.. in the flashforward scene we hear 'stay another day' by east 17 playing in the background.
"Does anyone remember at the end of the Christmas episode in 2019 when Martin “killed” Keanu.. that same song was playing in the background..
"And the fact we see the fire in the Vic like how we saw the fire at the allotment when Martin burned his clothes.. may seem a bit far fetched but you never know."
5. Linda's drinking
The individual trailers for The Six featured the song 'What Kind of Man' by Florence and The Machine.
And the lyrics of this song should have pointed us in the right direction all along.
The lyrics are: "I’d already had a sip, so I reasoned I was drunk enough to deal with it."
Linda fell off the wagon again since Dean Wick’s (Matt Di Angelo) return, and given that she was drunk the first time she shot Keanu, we really should have realised that she was going to be the killer as soon as she took her first secret drink on Christmas Day.
6. Linda's "wall of friends"
Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) told Linda that she would have a wall of friends around her to protect her if Dean ever returned to Albert Square.
After Dean made a shocking return in October, viewers knew The Six would help Linda and maybe killing him to protect her.
However, what it really meant was Linda having a wall of friends to protect her from going to prison.
Not only have they helped to hide the body and lied to the police, but they have urged her not to hand herself in on multiple occasions, which may be what Kathy’s was hinting at all along.
7. Linda's dead roses
Sharon told Linda that their futures were going to be "rosy", and viewers couldn’t help but shiver, knowing what was to come.
Back in May, the Knight family arrived on the square and George Knight (Colin Salmon) handed Linda a bouquet of roses.
However, what caught viewers’ attention was the fact that as soon as Linda grabbed hold of the roses, they died in her hands.
Was Linda set to kill all along?
8. The secrecy
The eight clue emerged last year when Keanu actor Danny concealed details about his character's fate.
Danny told : "It's not what I can tease, it's what I can't say. There's a lot going on for my character, for character he's involved with. I really want to tell you a lot of things coming up.
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"The storylines are so juicy and fun for me to play and it's going to be fun for the audience to watch. I want to say more!"
Lastly, Keanu was part of the seven possible male victims teased earlier this year.