It's been a storyline months in the making but on Thursday, EastEnders finally revealed that it was in fact Bobby Beale who killed Lucy Beale. The shocking conclusion comes ten months after Lucy was found dead on Walford Common, and as part of the BBC soap's 30th anniversary special, Thursday was dedicated to two special episodes of the serial drama.
During the first episode, 50 minutes long, it was assumed that Jane, Bobby and Lucy's step-mother had killed Lucy, after Ian called the house and told Jane to stay, as he knew she had murdered Lucy.
© Photo: BBCBut in the second episode, which focused on the events that happened prior to Lucy's death, it was revealed that Lucy's younger brother Bobby had actually killed Lucy. "Whatever she says, she started it," Bobby told Jane after calling Jane to the house, believing that he had only inured his elder sister.
In the later episode, Lucy and Jane had an emotional heart-to-heart where Lucy told Jane she wished Jane still lived with the Beales, and both were left in tears, leaving viewers to question whether Jane really had killed Lucy.
None of the BBC soap's cast members knew who had killed Lucy, played by Hetti Bywater, until the night of the live episode, with Jake Wood, who plays Max Branning, revealing that the actor or actress who plays the killer themselves probably won't find out they've done it until the day.
© Photo: BBCAt the time of Lucy's death, Jake's character Max was having an affair with the rebellious blonde beauty. He was one of the suspects, alongside his daughter Abi Branning, Lucy's twin brother Peter and Lucy's father Ian.
Bookies reportedly took £10million in bets on who was responsible for Lucy's demise – beating the previous record for bets on a TV 'whodunnit' set by Dallas in the 1980s when their 'who shot JR' storyline raised £250,000.
EastEnders' week of live shows, which mark the soap's 30th anniversary, have been building up to Thursday night's big reveal and the episodes will air exactly 30 years after the drama first hit screens on 19 February 1985.
© Photo: BBCThe live episode opened with the same opening line from the first episode - "Stinks in here, dunnit?" - only this time it was said by Stacey Branning, not Dirty Den.
In another shocking twist, which had many fans across social media up in arms, it was revealed that Kathy Beale, Lucy's grandmother, was alive. She had died in 2006 in a car crash, which led to her son Ben Mitchell moving to Walford to live with his dad, Phil Mitchell, but Phil met with Kathy in a deserted car park, where she begged to be allowed to return to the square.
As well as the resolution to Lucy's death, the character of Kim Fox gave birth to a baby girl who she named Pearl, and one of EastEnders most beloved characters, Dot Cotton, was seen leaving the square in a police car after admitting that she played a part in the drugs overdose of her son Nick Cotton.
