The Six (EastEnders)
The scene showed six female EastEnders characters, 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) in The Queen Victoria public house on Christmas Day standing around an unidentified male body lying on the floor, who they presume to be dead.
When Christmas Day 2023 arrived, the victim was revealed to be Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry), with Denise having struck him over the head with a broken champagne bottle in defence of Suki.
The storyline began its creation in August 2022,[1] as executive producer Chris Clenshaw had been thinking of ideas for a "blockbuster story" for 2023, and noticing that there was an appetite for a new whodunit plot in EastEnders, decided to draft one.
[3] On 3 February, it was revealed that the upcoming story would not just focus on Linda, but also five other female characters; Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), with the women later being dubbed "The Six".
[19] When asked if "The Six" storyline would build towards the show's 40th anniversary in February 2025, Clenshaw responded that "there's obviously huge consequences playing into next year from the fallout of what happens at Christmas.
Sadly, I can't reveal what those methods are as that would give everything away, but it would be a real shame if anyone spoiled the surprise as we know how much the audience love watching the drama unfold in real-time".
[27][28] The body in the flashforward scene was seen to be wearing a suit with distinctive amber cufflinks, which made appearances throughout the run-up to Christmas being owned by several male characters and being used to narrow down suspects.
[30] Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), and Tom "Rocky" Cotton (Brian Conley) were generally written off from being the potential body.
[32] Phil also briefly owned the amber cufflinks[33] and had made multiple enemies within "The Six",[28][33][34] but as he is considered one of the soap's most high-profile characters, was deemed too important to be killed.
[38] However, some had doubts as leaked photos from the set showed Walters wearing a light grey suit for his character's wedding to Sharon, while the body wore a black one.
[35][41] However, when the announcement of his ex-girlfriend Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) and their second child Avani (Aaliyah James) becoming regular characters with Christmas on the horizon, some viewers cleared Ravi of suspicions as he had become too prominent.
[18] Nish was considered a suspect due to his violent and abusive behaviour, status as a local menace, and Suki's affair with Eve Unwin (Heather Peace).
[29] Clenshaw teased Suki's motivation to kill Nish by saying she would "uncover truths, have her relationships tested but ultimately her biggest secret could push her to the extreme".
[43] In February 2023, after Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) have a lock-in at The Queen Victoria public house, they complain about the men in their lives before toasting: "To men, may they get what they deserve".
Stacey is shown with blood on her hands, Sharon is wearing a wedding dress, Denise is holding a broken wine bottle, and Linda has a bruised lip.
Suki admits that the reason why Nish is angry at her is because she had an affair with Eve Unwin (Heather Peace), which prompts the women to toast "true love".
The other women's attempts to intervene are futile until Denise strikes Nish over the head with a champagne bottle, causing him to collapse on the floor and be declared dead by Sharon.
However, Denise loses her necklace in the process, causing her to become paranoid about being the only one with evidence on the body, leading her mental health to worsen even further as she starts seeing visions of Keanu staring at her.
Linda concocts a plan to frame Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) for the murder, both to get police to stop searching and as revenge for raping her 10 years prior.
On the first day of the trial, Stacey manages to put on an act to avoid tough questioning from Dean's lawyer, following advice from her adoptive grandmother Mo Harris (Lala Morse).
After Phil leaves, Linda goes to the police station and confesses to killing Keanu to DCI Peter Arthurs (Ian Burfield), who is leading the case.
After being released, Chrissie reunites with Jake Moon (Joel Beckett), revealing that he is alive, and the two briefly visit Albert Square before leaving for good.
Meanwhile, George Knight (Colin Salmon) is reunited with his brothers, Kobina (Jonathon Nyati) and Kojo Asare (Dayo Koleosho), who is autistic, as they arrive in Walford seeking answers about their father's murder.
Suki gathers the women together to go through their statements but is interrupted by Nish who starts to suspect Kathy after she speaks aloud her frustration on the burden hiding the secret of Keanu's murder.
Bernadette's later confronts Sharon who tells her that the police won’t believe her due to lack of evidence and that they want the case closed after arresting two men over the murder.
In December 2024, Eve talks to Stacey who persuades her to forgive Suki after leaving her in the dark about her role in covering up Keanu’s murder, which she does during the Christmas light switch on.
When Linda has a vision of what would happen if she didn’t stop drinking, which sees her dying from her alcoholism, leaving the rest of the six women feeling guilty, and Elaine being left alone, she decides to go to rehab.
Laura Denby of Radio Times praised the flashforward scene, calling the decision "inventive and refreshing" and that "this brand new 'whodunnit' may have officially restored the long-running serial drama to its former glory".
[57] He considered Keanu's death to be "A heartbreaking but logical conclusion to a character who started as a sweet hero and ended up a desperate villain no longer worthy of Walford icon Sharon Watts".
[63] Throughout early 2024 focus began shifting away from The Six, which Tazmin Meyer of Entertainment Daily reported had disappointed fans, deeming the replacement storylines as "filler".
