EastEnders viewers were convinced one resident of Walford is being lined up to be framed for the Christmas Day murder.
Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) was killed after he was stabbed and Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) was attacked on Monday as the EastEnders storyline The Six, which was first teased in February of this year, reached a climax.
Six of Walford’s matriarchs; Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Suki Kaur Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), found themselves embroiled in a series of events that led to Keanu’s demise.
Several men had been teased as the potential victim in addition to Keanu and Nish before Christmas, with Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), Tom ‘Rocky’ Cotton (Brian Conley), Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) involved.
During Tuesday’s episode, the six ladies were seen in the Queen Vic as they wrapped Keanu’s body up in a tarpaulin and heavy duty tape before lugging him off to be buried under the floorboards of the burned out cafe after he was stabbed by Linda.
The matriarchs carried Keanu’s body out the front door of the pub, much to the astonishment of viewers, who were convinced someone would have seen them from elsewhere on Albert Square.
Moments before they disposed of Keanu’s body, a drunken Rocky was seen stumbling across the square before heading to the pub where he thought there was a lock in.
He knocked on the back door before having a word with Linda who quickly sent him on his way but the scene left some soap fans convinced the moment meant he was being lined up to take the blame for the murder.
Taking to Twitter, one person wrote: ‘I wonder if Rocky will be framed now that he’s turned up,’ while someone else posted: ‘Is Rocky gonna go in and end up getting framed in the storyline or something?’
Someone else posted: ‘I think Rocky is gonna get framed for hitting Nish somehow!’
While someone else shared: ‘Rocky will stagger into the pub and get blamed.’
Predicting the character will leave she soap, someone else commented: ‘Rocky is going to get the blame here. That’s his exit,’ while someone else remarked: ‘Ffs here comes loser Rocky. Let him take the blame hes homeless at least he’ll have a bed for life.’
Someone else wrote: ‘I think Rocky might take the blame for Nish’s attack to protect Kathy. There’s motive due to the constant blackmails from Nish as he knew about his gambling and the cafe which affected his relationship with Kathy. He might get done for arson too.’
Meanwhile, many viewers found it unbelievable the women were able to carry Keanu’s dead body out of the pub and into the square without there being any witnesses.
One person wrote on Twitter: ‘This is Walford.. I’m genuinely convinced SOMEONE has to have seen them together dragging this body out. And whoever it is, is hiding in the shadows for now.’
Someone else shared: ‘Ain’t no way someone isn’t gonna click them leaving the front entrance of the Vic in the square.’
Another person exclaimed: ‘PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TELL ME THEY AINT TAKING HIM OUT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE PUB WHERE ANYONE COULD SEE ?!!!???!!’
While someone else asked: ‘No cctv at all on the square then?’
‘The way they are just carrying a body around the square,’ laughed another viewer, while someone else noted: ‘Carrying a dead body out through the front doors on The Vic hoping no one will see.’
Another unconvinced viewer posted: ‘Yes totally believable that they would be able lift and carry the dead corpse of a man that easily. This is pure comedy at this point and I’m loving every second.’
Towards the end of the episode on Monday the women were drinking in the Queen Vic pub on Albert Square before they invited Nish along to talk things out with Suki.
Matters got physical when Nish tried to take Suki from the pub and Denise responded by hitting him over the head with a bottle.
This action was initially believed to have killed him, but after Suki performed CPR, she managed to get him breathing again and told the others he was alive, upon which she discovered Keanu on the floor.
He had been stabbed by Linda after he entered the pub and strangled Sharon, upon believing her to have killed Nish.
Things had also heated up between the two as, earlier in the episode, Sharon had told him he was not biologically related to their son Albie.
She revealed the news after the couple’s wedding was disrupted when Phil Mitchell gatecrashed and told Sharon that her husband-to-be was the person behind the kidnapping of their young son.
Teasing the festive episode, the British soap had aired a first-of-its-kind flashforward scene earlier in the year on February 20 which offered viewers a glimpse at the 2023 Christmas Day storyline.
The clip showed a shocked-looking Sharon with blood on her wedding dress, taking the unknown man’s pulse before exclaiming: ‘He’s dead.’
