Keanu Taylor appeared to die during the climax of EastEnders storyline The Six, which was first teased in February of this year and alluded to a murder.
During the Christmas Day episode, six of Walford’s matriarchs; Stacey Slater, Suki Kaur Panesar, Linda Carter, Sharon Watts, Denise Fox and Kathy Beale, found themselves embroiled in a series of events that led to what looked to be the character’s demise.
Several men had been teased as the potential victim including; Jack Branning, Tom “Rocky” Cotton, Dean Wicks, Nish Panesar, Ravi Gulati and Keanu.
Towards the end of the episode the women were drinking in the Queen Vic pub on Albert Square before they invited Nish along to talk things out with Suki.
Matters got physical when Nish tried to take Suki from the pub and Denise responded by hitting him over the head with a bottle.
#TheSix. Forever united in murder. Watch the whole episode now 👉 https://t.co/liyALgaRqD #EastEnders #Christmas2023 pic.twitter.com/NM6J0v9SBu
— BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) December 25, 2023
This action was initially believed to have killed him, but after Suki performed CPR, she managed to get him breathing again and told the others he was alive, upon which she discovered Keanu on the floor.
He had been stabbed by Linda after he entered the pub and strangled Sharon, upon believing her to have killed Nish.
Things had also heated up between the two as, earlier in the episode, Sharon had told him he was not biologically related to their son Albie.
She revealed the news after the couple’s wedding was disrupted when Phil Mitchell gatecrashed and told Sharon that her husband-to-be was the person behind the kidnapping of their young son.
Teasing the festive episode, the British soap had aired a first-of-its-kind flashforward scene earlier in the year on February 20 which offered viewers a glimpse at the 2023 Christmas Day storyline.
The clip showed a shocked-looking Sharon with blood on her wedding dress, taking the unknown man’s pulse before exclaiming: “He’s dead.”