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As Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) walked into The Vic, he received a cold reception from the iconic group of women known as ‘The Six’.
Comprised of Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), it was the hotly-anticipated whodunit murder mystery for the Christmas Day EastEnders special in 2023.
‘Merry Christmas, ladies,’ Nish muttered, ‘what a pleasant surprise’.
What happened next was one of the most gripping 10 minutes of television, including Suki revealing she was leaving Nish for Eve Unwin (Heather Peace), a physical altercation, then Denise smashing a bottle over Nish’s head.
Just when you thought the iconic ‘doof doof’ would start to play, Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) walked into the pub and another argument began. This time, Sharon was almost choked to death before Linda plunged a meat thermometer in his back.
I was instantly hooked.
I had never actually watched a full episode of EastEnders before this one (I’m Australian, so I grew up on Neighbours and Home and Away instead!) but the months-long hype surrounding The Six had pulled me in.
Now I’ve been watching this iconic soap every day since – and I couldn’t be more excited for the 40th anniversary special.
It’s been four decades since 13million viewers tuned in on February 19, 1985, to watch Arthur Fowler, Ali Osman and ‘Dirty’ Den Watts force their way into Reg Cox’s flat to find Reg near death. And now the show’s reportedly planning a full week of twists and turns to celebrate the anniversary – including a viewer vote, big cameos, and a live episode.
So let’s recap some of the best and most powerful storylines over the last year or so.
Linda’s alcoholism
After killing Keanu, Linda hit the bottle (or should I say, pink reusable coffee cup) – and hard.
Then when the body was discovered under the cafe four months after The Six buried him there, things really started to unravel. This is especially so when The Six framed Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) for the murder and Linda had to testify against him – the man who raped her.
Later in the year, Linda heart-breakingly spiralled and ended up soiling herself in front of everyone in Albert Square. We then saw a shocking flash forward episode, where Linda got sexually assaulted and drank herself to death, which broke the rest of her family.
This is what ended up shaking her to the core and finally getting the help she needed. Kellie Bright gave a brilliant performance throughout – truly eye-opening to anyone affected by alcohol abuse.
Nugget and Denzel’s steroids
Early last year, Denzel Danes (Jaden Ladega) became obsessed with working out and gaining weight after struggling with his body image. This led him on a dangerous path to taking anabolic steroids in a bid to gain muscle faster.
When Davinder ‘Nugget’ Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) caught on, he wanted in too. But Nugget quickly realised that he wasn’t getting the same results – or attention.
Unfortunately, Nugget’s steroid use led to him collapsing, ending up in hospital with kidney failure, and needing regular dialysis. It was a heart-breaking result, but shone a spotlight on an ever-growing problem plaguing young men in particular.
Around the time the storyline aired, Juhaim wrote on Instagram: ‘There are so many people, especially teenagers, who feel insecure about their body image and take drastic measures to change their body. Please try to be confident in your body and understand the beauty of it.
He added: ‘You are beautiful. We are beautiful.’
Denise’s sectioning
For Denise, the guilt of covering up the murder of Keanu (not to mention the nerves of knowing her necklace could’ve been discovered at any moment among the remains of his body) led her to start hallucinating, including believing Johnny Carter (Charlie Suff) is the devil.
It all came to a head when she ran away from home and into a nearby forest holding a Bible, convinced that Johnny was following her. After Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) managed to track her down in a harrowing hallucination scene, Denise was sectioned.
Diagnosed with psychosis, it was an eye-opening look into a mental health condition rarely explored on TV. Denise’s vacant look while she was being convinced to voluntarily go to hospital is hauntingly impactful.
Diane Parish said of that scene: ‘What broke my heart when I watched it back was watching what Scott and Zaraah [Abrahams, who plays Chelsea Fox] were giving… it was seeing the reality of how it was affecting the other actors [that] made it real and what made those scenes heart-breaking.’
Eve and Suki’s wedding
Let’s be honest: Nish’s year-long downfall was ludicrously chaotic.
He went from nearly dying on Christmas Day 2023, to nearly killing his son Vinny (Shiv Jalota), blackmailing and manipulating pretty much everyone, going to jail, breaking out of jail, faking his death, poisoning Eve, and attempting a murder-suicide with Suki – all with an imminently life-threatening heart condition.
Of course, the final showdown on New Year’s Day – with Nish falling to his death – was gasp-inducing, but the actual wedding was incredibly moving and a real tear-jerker.
Reminiscent of Julia Roberts in Notting Hill, Suki said to Eve as they waited to go in for the ceremony: ‘I’m just a little girl sitting in my bedroom, listening to doom metal, waiting for someone to see me.’
‘I see you,’ Eve reassured her.
During the vows, Eve then called Suki for being courageous in giving up everything for their love, to which she replied: ‘See, it’s easy to be brave when there’s someone like you to fight for.’
A beautiful scene – before it all came crashing down.
Yolande’s sexual assault
After weeks of grooming and gaslighting, Pastor Gideon Clayton (Howard Saddler) sexually assaulted Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) at a church fundraiser in April. What followed was a special hour-long episode, in which Yolande dissociated in real-time, then slowly opened up to Elaine about what happened.
‘He grabbed me so tight and he put his hand where he had no right to put it,’ Yolande revealed, ‘he wouldn’t stop.’
Throughout this powerful conversation with Elaine – in which they discussed what to do in the aftermath – there’s a montage of other survivors of Pastor Clayton dealing with their own trauma. Some women aren’t believed, while others go through reporting it to police but can’t get justice as there’s insufficient evidence.
It’s a heart-wrenching episode that ended with Yolande and the other women feeling lost, alone, and questioning their faith in God.
In a full circle moment later in the year, Yolande then met with the other survivors and – although Pastor Clayton had since died by suicide so he couldn’t be convicted – she was hauntingly brought to floods of tears after listening to a church choir and having her faith restored.
Brava, Angela Wynter. Brava.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·