Five times EastEnders ‘gave away’ Christmas Day murder victim – from Bernie’s cryptic comments to East 17 clue

EASTENDERS fans were left stunned when it was finally revealed that Keanu Taylor was the Christmas Day murder victim.

The character, played by Danny Walters, was brutally stabbed by Linda Carter as he attempted to strangle Sharon Watts to death during a fiery confrontation.

Whilst many were left in surprise that Keanu was killed off after the explosive ten month storyline, the show had been dropping hints that Keanu would not survive all year long.

Eagle-eyed EastEnders fans have been noticed clever foreshadowing thanks to a slew of cryptic comments and hints from show bosses.

One of the most prominent clues all centres around the East 17 Christmas hit, Stay Another Day.

During the show’s flash-forward episode in February, the track could be heard ringing out around the pub as the ladies stared at a lifeless body on the floor.

While it transpired that it was Nish on the floor, the use of the music being associated to the murder victim is more closely linked to Keanu than you may realise.

Cast your minds back to 2019 when Martin Fowler buried Keanu’s clothes in an often forgotten plot.

Even Keanu’s killer Linda found herself caught up in the eerily-similar scene.

It was part of an elaborate plot that saw Martin ordered to kill Keanu by Ben Mitchell but Linda ended up disturbing the goings-on and helping to cover up what was going on.

She eventually shot Keanu lightly as part of a faux murder cover-up.

However, as Martin buried the clothes to make it seem as though a real murder had taken place, the East 17 track played out.

It marked two occasions when Keanu was involved in a ‘death’ as the song played out.

One fan went on to point out: “It’s funny how Linda helped fake his death once, and now she’s sealed the deal.”

Bernadette Taylor also appeared to foreshadow Keanu’s death in a second clue on the day of his murder.

Having exposed that he was involved in baby Albie’s kidnapping, Bernie screamed at him in front of the whole church to tell him to stop lying.

Insisting that his lies would be responsible for his eventual death, she shouted: “You can’t lie your whole life it will KILL YOU!!”

Further characters appeared to hint at Keanu’s fate being sealed in a series of clues.

As he returned to Walford a year ago, Ben Mitchell predicted that it would end up with him being dead in a chilling threat that came to be true.

Highlighting this interaction on Reddit, one fan said: “Ben told him he was a dead man when he returned to the square. It was always his fate.”

A fourth clue came in the form of Keanu predicting how he would “lose” in life after turning “bad”.

He made an impassioned speech to Alfie Moon about how bad guys don’t succeed before his greed and desires took over and turned him into one of those guys himself after plotting the kidnapping and cash grab.

Keanu said to Alfie: “Bad guys always lose.”

Having created the plan to fake Albie’s kidnapping with his mother Karen, she took the time to make what seemed to be an innocent joke about their age-gap love.

Karen quipped to her son: “At least Sharon is 40 years older so she’ll die first.”

With Karen now banished from the Square, she has not even been able to stick around to see that exactly the opposite of what she predicted went on to become true.

EastEnders viewers have been gripped this week as The Six reel from the murder and the subsequent fallout.