EastEnders Christmas spoilers have revealed what’s in store for returning soap legend Pat Butcher amid a major Zoe Slater ‘truth’ twist.

Heading into the busiest week in soapland, Michelle Ryan’s Zoe has been tormented by a mysterious stalker on the BBC soap for the past

few months. Back in Walford for the first time in 20 years, Zoe has been left a number of ominous messages, including a warning at the Christmas lights event telling her to ‘die’.

 

 

The timing couldn’t be worse for Zoe, with it revealed earlier in the year in a flashback sequence that she gave birth to twins in 2006. Believing her daughter is dead, Zoe has been on a mission to track down her long-lost son for several months now.

 

 

To make matters worse, Zoe is unaware that her ex-fiancée Anthony Trueman, who has been handed a restraining order from his own wife, is seemingly obsessed with her. Prior to spending the night together, viewers learned that the doctor was keeping lots of pictures of his ex on his laptop.

 

 

In scenes aired this week a number of secrets about Zoe’s past came to light. On top of Anthony Trueman learning that he’s likely the father of Zoe’s children, the mysterious Jasmine admitted to police that she’s her daughter. Whether Jasmine comes clean to her mum remains to be seen.

 

 

EastEnders fans were left stunned last month when the BBC revealed that a special episode will air looking at Nigel Bates’s dementia as Phil Mitchell’s best friend seeks advice from faces of the past in the form of Pat Evans and Barry Evans. Pat died of cancer in 2012, while Barry was fatally pushed down a mountain by Janine Butcher in 2004.

It’s not often that Christmas goes off without a hitch on Albert Square, with the most wonderful time of the year normally resulting in affairs being exposed and murders taking place. Judging from the latest spoilers, 2025 isn’t going to be any jollier.

Christmas week will begin on Monday, December 22, which marks the day of Nigel’s film screening, but Phil and Julie are preoccupied by their disagreement over care options for Nigel. The residents gather at the community centre for the screening where Lexi Pearce takes control of the event, having directed the film.

Sam Mitchell arrives, but Kat Slater soon makes it clear she is not welcome and is stunned when Julie drops the bombshell that she has been back in the country for months. Nigel gets up to make a speech, where Julie joins him on stage after he loses his place. With the spotlight on them both, Nigel notices a bruise on Julie’s face, and upon realising he is to blame flees the scene.