BBC EastEnders’ Kellie Bright reveals surprise over Linda Carter twist: ‘I didn’t see it coming!’

EastEnders actress Kellie Bright has revealed her surprise over her character Linda Carter’s twist.

Soap watchers will recall that over Christmas, Keanu Taylor was murdered by Linda when she killed him with a meat thermometer while trying to protect Sharon Watts. The hit BBC One soap had hinted that there would be a murder over the festive episode months in advance with an explosive flashforward and fans were thrown into a whodunnit mystery as the suspects were revealed in a line-up of six women Linda, Sharon, Suki Panesar, Stacey Slater, Kathy Beale and Denise Fox.

Finally, on Christmas Day, after months of speculation and hints, Keanu was revealed to be the dead body and Linda the murderer. Talking about the twist and storyline on Wednesday’s The One Show, actress Kellie, 47, said of her character being the killer which was kept top secret: “I was really surprised, I did not see it coming at all. I thought I’d be the last person that would do it.

“When it was explained to me how it was going to happen, I went: ‘Okay, I can sort of see.’ She [Linda] doesn’t intend to kill him, she’s stopping him from killing her best friend. A moment of desperation, madness, chaos, a lot happened that day. It’s EastEnders, it’s Christmas Day, of course a lot happened – it all built to this moment! I did think, I’ve been on the show for ten years now, I thought it was a brilliant episode and I was very proud to be a part of it.”

It comes as EastEnders aired a new Linda twist on Wednesday night. Only recently, Sharon found herself being quizzed by police over her late fiancé Keanu’s death, as his body was found last week. Fans will recall that Keanu was murdered at Christmas by Linda when she killed him with a meat thermometer while trying to protect Sharon.

The Six, including Sharon, Linda, Suki, Stacey, Kathy and Denise, then covered up the crime and their parts in it. Keanu’s corpse was buried under the floor of the café, while the women told the police that Keanu had fled and was on the run after attacking Nish Panesar.

This lie and his true fate has recently been exposed after his body was found at the café last week. Sharon has found herself as number one suspect and on Tuesday night Linda was left shocked to learn from her son, Johnny Carter, who is representing Sharon, that the rest of The Six are keeping hold of the murder weapon as insurance and will frame Linda if they have to.

However, Johnny vowed to sort it by getting Sharon released as the latter threatened him, warning he has 24 hours before she reveals all to the police. After deliberating what to do, Linda finally decided to hand herself in.

Yet in true soap style, ahead of Linda handing herself in, the latter and Stacey witnessed a nasty argument between Dean Wicks and Harvey Monroe outside the Queen Vic, where Harvey exposed Dean for messing with his daughter Jade’s medication, who has undergone a life-saving lung transplant surgery amid her cystic fibrosis battle, in order to stop her from moving to Pakistan with her mother Shabnam.

Dean, who is planning on moving to America with Jade, got nasty which prompted Linda to step in as she bravely stood up to her rapist. As Linda was supported by her loved ones, Dean warned: “Can’t touch me, any of you!” as he hinted he was leaving Albert Square tomorrow.

As a smug Dean walked away, Harvey shared his frustrations with Stacey, pointing out “men like that” never face consequences and they continue to get away with torturing women, arguing: “Where is the justice?” This gave Stacey food for thought and later when Linda prepared to hand herself in, Kathy revealed that they were instead setting up Dean. It then showed Stacey in Dean’s flat with the murder weapon as she prepared to plant it with the plan going ahead on Wednesday night.

After successfully planting the weapon, which an oblivious Dean then picked up without realising it was in fact a murder weapon, Stacey updated The Six as they prepared to make an anonymous phone call to the police with a false witness statement.

However, Linda said she wanted to personally deliver the statement in person at the police station which Johnny furiously hit back at, pointing out it made her look suspicious and she could end up in prison with Dean walking away. Later, some of The Six and Johnny went to carry out their plan to which the latter received a call from Linda at the police station.

Linda told Johnny, who had begged his mum not to go to the police: “Johnny, you’re going to be angry with me. But I’ve made a decision… and you’re not going to need to make that phone call.” It remains to be seen what Linda has planned and what her fate looks like…