EastEnders Christmas murder: All the rumoured victims and fan theories so far

Ever since EastEnders unveiled its blood-soaked Christmas flash forward in February, fans of the BBC soap have been trying to guess who the murder victim is.

Soap bosses have teased a huge festive storyline that sees one Albert Square resident lose their life, while six Walford matriarchs are in the frame for the whodunnit.

But which of the characters' futures is looking dicey as the weeks count down to Christmas?

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Christmas is always a big time for storylines in soapland, but EastEnders began the festive run-up earlier than ever before this year by airing a flash forward episode on 20 February.

Leaving viewers 10 months of anticipation over who will be involved in the grisly plot, it teased a murder involving one - or perhaps all - of a group of Albert Square women who have become known as The Six.

Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Suki Kaur Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) were all unveiled as possible perpetrators of the crime.

In the Christmas scene, Sharon is wearing a blood-stained wedding dress and bending over the body of a man while the rest of the women stand around her in the Queen Vic wearing party clothes.

She lifts his arm, showing a pair of amber cufflinks, and announces: "He's dead!"

But viewers are none the wiser as to who killed him, why, or who he even is - in fact, Bright told This Morning that when the scene was filmed they didn't even know whether the victim would be a woman or a man.

She said: "They actually made Tish film it two ways. We had a 'He's dead' and a 'She's dead'. So it was only when I watched it last night that I knew it was a man.

"And I only just realised it must be one of us. One of us did it!"

Which EastEnders characters are in the frame for murder?

There's a new theory doing the rounds about who could be responsible for the murder, which has picked up pace since the full-length trailer was released on Monday, 4 December.

Posting the trailer to their social media accounts, EastEnders captioned it "For whom does the bell toll?" but keen viewers noted that there were actually seven bell tolls featured...for six suspects.

Could there be a seventh woman in the frame for the murder, and who could it be?

The soap has offered some big twists in the past with high-profile murder storylines where the culprit wasn't in the official list of suspects.

Of course, Cindy Beale has made her shock return from the dead in the time since the first flash forward, and there are other big female characters including Kat Slater and Sonia Fowler who could potentially be involved.

Although the teaser was light on many details, viewers are pretty certain that it was at least one of The Six who committed the murder.

Sharon looks like the obvious culprit as she is the one splattered with blood and the person to pronounce the victim dead.

The flash forward began with the women having a lock-in at the pub as Sharon ominously raised a toast: "To men, may they get what they deserve."

However, Denise is also seen holding a broken champagne bottle, while Stacey has blood on her hands and Kathy's family have been at the centre of another huge twist since then with the return of Cindy Beale.

Who is rumoured to be the EastEnders Christmas murder victim?

A number of cast members have been suggested as possible victims of the crime.

Stacey has become embroiled in a disturbing storyline about providing online content to unknown fans, without realising that her number one subscriber is actually Freddie's creepy ex-teacher Theo Hawthorne (William Ellis) who has developed an unhealthy obsession with her family.

Other viewers are worried that the victim could be Martin Fowler (James Bye) who Stacey has recently reunited with and who is uncomfortable with her cam work, reasoning that Theo could attack him in a jealous rage.

Meanwhile, Sharon's fiance Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) has also been pegged as a possible victim after realising that Sharon had betrayed him over trying to stop his daughter Peggy returning to Portugal.

Keanu wanted to stop Peggy and Lisa leaving the country by hiding their passports, but did not know that Sharon was working with Martin to foil his plan.

The Slaters are also in for further drama as Freddie decides he wants to track down his dad - not realising that he was actually conceived when Graham Foster (Alex McSweeney) raped his mum Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth).

Bobby Brazier, who plays Freddie, has said: "I think it will turn everything upside down. Freddie has never imagined this to be the reality of the situation and it’s the last thing he would ever think would be true."