EastEnders' Linda Carter in danger of drowning - but will there be a double death?

Linda traps her ankle below decks as she reaches for a cheap bottle of Chardonnay when the Thames cruiser runs into trouble and starts to sink.

Cruelly only a few hours earlier Linda looks to have turned a corner. A bar brawl followed by some unexpectedly tender home truths from her mother-in-law Shirley (Linda Henry) prompts her to leave a phone message for her estranged husband.

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“I don’t know what’s happening, Mick. I know I don’t want a divorce,” admits Linda. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. I don’t know what it means not to love you.”

That is all blown out of the water when just as Linda boards the coach for The Queen Vic’s Pub of the Year boat party celebrations she sees Mick comforting Whitney Dean.

After downing half a bottle of vodka Linda lays into Mick and Whitney who has boarded the boat at Mick’s insistence to give her an alibi after killing stalker Leo in Dot’s kitchen.

It’s a gripping start to the week of dramatic anniversary action which plays out the same day from different perspectives over four episodes. On Monday night it’s The Carters, Tuesday The Beales and The Fowlers and on Thursday The Mitchells before Friday’s aftermath reveals who doesn’t make it off the boat alive.

Monday night’s episode teased glimpses of those different strands. Bex Fowler appears on deck unwell as Stuart Highway, dressed as Captain Hook, asks what’s wrong with her. A shot is heard as the boat’s captain refers to an incident in the wheelhouse after Phil Mitchell has been seen onboard with a gun.

As multiple long running storylines build to a climax it looks like Linda and Mick’s marriage may be about to pay the ultimate price.

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