EastEnders spoilers: "Lucy murder to take eerie twist," says boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins

"This year, we promise to give you a real EastEnders cracker as stories that have been building over the past year come to a head," says the soap's boss. "With secrets spilling out, Mick and Linda's Christmas turns from magical to monstrous. Lucy Beale's murder takes a very eerie twist before many potential suspects are ruled out, Kat and Alfie try to save their marriage, while Ronnie and Nick face off over Dot's Christmas turkey. No family on the Square will have a quiet Christmas this year."

Anticipation for this year's Christmas episodes is high thanks to the number of secrets currently building up behind the bar of the Queen Vic. Landlord Mick Carter has yet to find out that wife Linda was raped by Dean Wicks, while Aunt Babe looks set to be exposed for having kept the whereabouts of Shirley's mum Syvlie hidden from the rest of the family.

"Aunt Babe is all trifle-making sweetness on the outside but audiences have discovered that she's the most ruthless of the Carters with her own warped moral code and a collection of dark buried secrets," adds Treadwell-Collins. "With the shock Christmas return of Sylvie - Stan's estranged wife and Babe's sister - this Christmas will rock Stan to his core and force Aunt Babe to paddle like mad as her past machinations look set to be exposed…"

You can read more from Dominic Treadwell-Collins, as well as an exclusive interview with show star Danny Dyer, in the new issue of Radio Times (out Thursday 4 December).

Watch a 60-second rundown of next week's episodes of EastEnders below: