'EastEnders' boss Chris Clenshaw has promised viewers will still be guessing the mystery murder victim's identity "until the very end".
The six women at the heart of the EastEnders festive mystery
Since February, the soap has teased a mystery surrounding The Six - Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) - which will result in the death of a male character on Christmas Day (25.12.23) and the showrunner has promised the festive episodes will feature a lot of "high drama".
He told reporters: "I think it's something to watch live on Christmas Day.
"And I think you'll be kind of guessing right up until the very end...
"We have gone to quite some lengths to keep everything under wraps, but I can't reveal what those are because then it might be a little bit too revealing."
Chris believes it is essential audiences are offered a "spectacular" episode on Christmas Day.
He said: "I think we take for granted that we're asking people to invest a hell of a lot of time on their Christmas Day to tune in and watch us, so you need to deliver something spectacular.
"I think you need to give them something deliberately unexpected and give them a shocking twist.
"You have to remember that we're a show about family and community, and therefore it should definitely still feel like Christmas, and I still think it should feel relatable.
"If you look at the best 'EastEnders' Christmases, you think of Den and Angie or the Stacey and Max reveal, and we can all relate to those stories."
The storyline has been planned for 18 months and Chris admitted it has taken a lot of planning.
He explained: "I think it all started over 18 months ago.
"We shot the flash-forward scene the first week back in after Christmas in January, but obviously the planning of that was months in advance, so it's been a long time and it was really weird having meetings before last Christmas about this Christmas and making decisions that you would never have to make until a lot further down the line.
"It was small things, as we were shooting last Christmas and then we were having to make decisions on the Queen Vic's Christmas decorations for 2023, and then we had an opportunity to change the decor from the past previous Christmas from the usual decor that they have in the Vic. It has been a long time in the planning.
"We knew that the Knights were going to take over the Vic, so we felt that Elaine would potentially want some different decorations, so all little things like that had to be thought about much further in advance than usual."
Tagged in Eastenders Gillian Taylforth Lacey Turner Letitia Dean