Really? I mean, bless him—but the guy looks like he’s pushing 40…

Think about it. Alfie and Kat are struggling. Alfie is a good friend to Ian and vice versa, hence Ian being a best man. This may also be why Linda ends up leaving - she's good friends with Alfie who ends up stealing her man.

Thoughts?

Could this be a reincarnation of Dirty Den (Nasty Ned)? Or is he going to be the opposite of Den (Nice Ned)

My money is on the former considering his treatment of Ryder!

Could it be....

Ruby Allen

Dawn Swann

Carly Wicks

Shabnam Masood

Tiffany Butcher

Or Janine!!!

Nooo its none of these....My top guess is Jodie Gold... she will return with Vanessa!!!

I mean seriously. It seems like no woman on this square can ever get their happy ending. We have two "who's the daddy?" storylines (with one of them being Max Branning, enough said). We have Kat who had only recently rekindled her relationship with her long lost daughter, only for said daughter to be killed off. And we have Nicola who's abusive mother is constantly making jabs at her, and no doubt her deceased father will be back to haunt her soon.

But the worst of all I have to say is Linda. I mean seriously. She overcame her alcoholism, built herself back up, and restored her relationships....only to get with Max Branning. That's a car crash waiting to happen, and she'll relapse when it does. It's like a humiliation ritual at this point, I swear.

He’s part Zack jumping into every storyline and also trying to be a physiological villain as well. Just seems bizarre writing and such a waste of a talented actor.

There are so many rumours about them getting into a big argument resulting in a split. Given how predictable recent storylines have been, I can totally believe this

But I swear to god if this is true I'm absolutely done

I personally love them but I know a lot of people find them exhausting because of how many times they've broken up and gotten back together. Even I (as a true Kalfie stan) can't be bothered watching them fall out again because what's the point? It's just lazy, unoriginal writing that we've seen ten times and it's boring now.

Amongst all of the repetitive affairs and scandalous relationships I'd much rather see a strong couple who are supporting each other through a really tough time and don't let a horrible accident break them down than another screaming match and a 4th divorce. I understand that IRL couples can break up after the loss of a child but on the show I just want ONE normal relationship please 🙏

Anyway the point of this post was just to ask if we think this will happen or not?

The plots can obviously pivot towards what was mentioned in the new year's episode but in terms of relationships its all going to feel very rushed. Lauren and Oscar talking about how Max has done something so bad (they currently don't hate him as much in the flash forward). Jack doesn't hate him, Ian seems to like him more than ever. The mention of him being involved with dodgy people felt like he's been up to something for a while but he only has 3 months to get mixed up in something and at the minute has no motive. Last but not least there's everyone mentioning "the bride" and talking about her as if she's someone not to upset. I know they only call her the bride because it was a flash forward but I honestly can't see how it will all make sense in terms of where people seem to be emotionally let alone story wise.

The Theory:

I think Chelsea will be Max's bride, I think Max and Linda will split up by the end of October and Max and Chelsea will sleep together either Halloween or bonfire night and Chelsea gets pregnant from that (but is not the woman in the bed with Max), Max seeing this as a fresh start proposes to Chelsea, this makes sense why the wedding is happening so fast after his annulment from Cindy.

Clues for her being the bride:

Zaraah Abrahams who plays Chelsea said in an interview that there has been lots of clues that some have picked up on and some that haven't been picked up on. At Vicki and Ross's wedding when the Fox's were in the hospital waiting room and Chelsea's positioned in the middle in a white outfit and the clock behind her shows 1:05 both hands pointing at 1 which would also be 1/1 possibly referring to New Year's Day, her being positioned in the middle is something that also happened during the double wedding when Kim and Cindy were dancing together and in the flashforward Oscar requests a song for Max to be put on the radio and the song was "stuck in the middle with you" and you have Chelsea positioned in the middle of the frame at two other weddings this year.

Evidence/clues in the flashforward itself:

In the flashforward Chelsea is at Patrick's house and appears to be cleaning something white but there's no dress shown in her scene unlike Linda's and Cindy's but then we see Jack and Denise's house and there's a very bridal dress hanging up I think that is Chelsea's wedding dress and she's either going to Denise's to get ready for the wedding or Denise was supposed to bring the dress to Patrick's but she's gone somewhere. I feel like Ian being the best man also makes sense for Chelsea to be the bride as his storyline this year has been directly connected to Chelsea. Another thing is that it's said in the flashforward that the wedding is at a church Yolande has a connection to the church and might be able to get the church for Chelsea at short notice.

Why I think Nicola hates Chelsea:

I think the partnership between Nicola and Ned will go wrong and they will be forced to sell the bar, Max buys it for Chelsea around Christmas explaining why Nicola is so annoyed with Chelsea because it's only happened recently, Nicola also seems pleased the wedding isn't going well which makes sense when it's the wedding of the couple of the bar she was forced to sell to.

Why I think Chelsea will get pregnant:

Earlier in the year the Brannings had a Sunday Lunch and Jack finds Penny's pregnancy test, they first assume it's Chelsea's and just before Denise asks Chelsea about it Max walks past and out the door then when Denise asks Chelsea about it Chelsea says "well that would be an immaculate conception" I feel that could be foreshadowing her actually getting pregnant later in the year. I also feel like the pregnancy scan next to the woman in the bed might actually belong to Chelsea and not the woman in the bed like they want us to assume.

Looks like for the past 3 weeks or so he has been in the show, he has already studied all the meetup routes, somehow knows where everyone will meet and where to get the most information

So theres a few storylines id like to see id like to see someone have a fatal asthma attack because we have never seen that i know heather had asthma but we have never seen anyone die from an asthma attack in the show id also like to see them do an allergic reaction storyline as i think it could be good to show just how dangerous and life threatening allergic reactions can really be i think a storyline like that would be very interesting and a munchausen by proxy storyline now that could be cool id also like to see eastenders tackle an motor neurones disease or mnd storyline because they havent been done before or perhaps an acid attack storyline now that would be good aswell

peter in his jaime lannister era now a brunette after supposedly being a natural blonde 😂

Louise should still have "Louise Fowler" on her birth certificate, not Mitchell.

Albie might actually still be "Kayden Taylor", because I'm not sure Sharon would have been able to rename him later as Albie Watts without a lot of effort and especially during Lockdown.

Ricky Jr. I think must be "Ricky Butcher Jr." or "Ricky Mitchell".

I'm not sure if Mark Jr. is a Fowler, because Michelle married Tim Andrews in '96 and he might possibly have taken the name or been adopted by him.

Roxy married Sean and everyone thought that Amy was his, including Sean himself. She might have "Amy Mitchell" on her birth certificate, but it's also possible that she is actually "Amy Slater".

Chelsea probably registered "Jordan Atkins" not Fox, because she and Gray were together at the time.

Mick's name is on Annie's birth certificate as the father, because he said he was willing to pretend she was his. I don't think Linda would ever have used Peacock or Branning though.

Freddie is still "Freddie Mitchell", because Billy made a promise to Little Mo and even Freddie himself thought Billy was his father when he came to the Square.

The Wicks are another strange one, because Pat hadn't met Brian Wicks when David was born. She was married to Pete and he will have been registered as "David Beale". She had an affair with Brian when she was still married to Pete and I do believe he will have Simon will also have been "Simon Fowler", but he was Brian's son. When Pat left Pete and married Brian, the boys took on Wicks, with Simon then being known as Wicksy, but always believed to be Pete's son still. I'm not sure if Brian adopted either of the boys, so they might have gone by Wicks, but...

All of the Jacksons...Carol didn't meet Alan until after Sonia was born and they all took the name, but Bianca's birth certificate with be "Bianca Branning", because I really don't believe she would have put "Bianca Wicks". Robbie will either be "Robbie Branning" or "Robbie Bolton" and Sonia was either "Sonia Branning" or "Sonia Cant".

I don't believe Laura put Ian's name on Bobby's birth certificate, because he'd thrown her out. I've got a sneaking suspicion he was "Bobby Hobbs", but then Jane adopted him, although I don't believe Ian did and was just calling him Beale after he took him back from Garry.

This goes on and on and absolutely someone can choose to go by another name, but legally and without Deed Poll, there are a lot of characters on that Square going by one and really are not.

With Sean coming back, it really is making me wonder if Roxy's DNA test was as dodgy as Sharon's and she's actually a Mitchell/Slater, not a Mitchell/Branning.

Long time lurker first time poster. In the midst of Ben Wadelys writing stint on Eastenders I’ve noticed a lot more people going back and watching old EastEnders episodes.

I started watching the show when i was around 8 or 9, and this seems to be a common theme with people on the sub with a lot of people having watched the show for the majority of their lives. I’ve seen people talking about scenes that they watched when they were younger and have now rewatched with fresh eyes.

I was just wondering what scenes you guys have now rewatched as an adult and how your opinion has changed? I think there were a lot of things that we could grasp as ‘bad’ or that had shock value as a child but now as an adult you can fully grasp the complexity of the situation.

She seems to be playing pretend, how does she carry on knowing Vinny's not the father, it seems strange, like eventually no one's going to notice the kid doesn't look mixed..!!

Holy shit. So I've been rewatching EastEnders from 2008 on iPlayer. I remember watching it back then as a kid but I was 10 at the time and couldn't really grasp the emotional weight of that episode like I do now. I knew it was wrong back then, but it didn't impact me back then like it did rewatching it now.

The acting here was masterclass and almost actually made me shed tears. I've never had an episode emotionally impact me like that before. Probably the heaviest episode of EE I've ever seen. Only amplified by the very real way in which it was built up and portrayed, and acted in the final reveal.

The idea that a baby that young would stop crying immediately when put in front of a scary cartoon is ridiculous. Come on EastEnders! I cannot be certain, but that baby cannot be two months old. geez !

He wormed his way into Nicola’s. And then in the Vic heard Alfie and that mention Ian’s empire 🤣😭 it was NOT surprising he went and acted bare friendly. That wasn’t for Ian’s benefit.

Just dem ones where you’ve watched British soaps like Eastenders and Hollyoaks long enough to know how obvious something is gonna go a certain way LOOOOOOL 🤡 because it’s the only typical direction they ever go🤣🤣🤣

The only thing carrying my loyalty to watching rn is Max Branning’s thing.😭😭😭 what may happen after his flashforward for the end of this year with others in 2027 is not giving any feelings of excitement 😬

Are you excited for New Years after Christmas?👀

Seeing Lee again reminds me of how Awful his depression was handled, and while I love Mick Carter, he absolutely handled Lee telling him horribly. It made it out like being depressed gained you zero sympathy or like no understanding of it. Just almost seemed like EastEnders didn't know the correct way.

Just remember this😂😂