The BBC One soap is nearing the end of its 40th year on television, and it has been a huge year of drama for our favourites in Walford.

Now, as Christmas approaches, we thought we would catch you up on the action that lies ahead in Walford.

Much of the main Christmas Day action will take place in – you guessed it – the Queen Vic pub as a long-running storyline with the Slaters looks set to explode. At the same time, it seems an awkward Christmas dinner with the Beales-Brannings lies ahead.

Here’s everything you need to know…

The Zoe Slater saga

In case you somehow missed the news, Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) made a surprise return to Walford after 20 years away and having grown estranged from mother, Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace).

It was clear that Zoe was hiding a dark secret, and we soon discovered that in 2006, Zoe gave birth to twins, and while she believed that her daughter had died, she abandoned her son in her grief.

In recent months, Zoe has been trying to raise funds to help track down her long-lost son and along the way, she met Max Branning and entered into a romantic relationship with him until they split after she almost killed a man who attacked her after she sought information from him on her son.

Zoe later came back to Walford after being tracked down by younger brother Tommy Moon (Sonny Kendall) and was reunited with Kat after a long period of arguing, and was also shot by accident – don’t worry about that bit.

After coming clean to Kat, her mum vowed to Zoe that they would find her son. Zoe also briefly pretended that her ex-boyfriend, Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), was the father of her twins, but this turned out to be a lie to con Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) into paying to track down the twins.

Meanwhile, Zoe was also reunited with her ex-boyfriend – and Kat’s ex-boyfriend – Dr Anthony Truemam (Nicholas Bailey). Anthony has split from his wife, Sophie, and was later revealed to have had a restraining order brought against him.

It also became clear that Anthony was fixated on being with Zoe again.

During this time, Zoe began to receive threatening messages and was attacked and stalked by a mysterious tormentor – and she accused everyone and sundry of being responsible, particularly Jean Slater (Gillian Wright).

After briefly reigniting his romance with the vulnerable Zoe, Anthony recently did some digging for Kat on Zoe’s children and discovered that both twins were alive, and the dates meant that he was likely the father.

Furious that Zoe had hidden the twins’ existence from him, Anthony lied to Kat that both twins had died.

Zoe also survived an arson attack on the former home of Dot Branning (June Brown), where she had been staying, but she was saved.

Moving back to the Vic for Christmas, Kat kept the false news of Zoe’s dead children from her before Zoe received a card, apparently from her son, telling her he would visit her on Christmas Day.

However, viewers are aware of further twists…

Jasmine Fisher’s true identity

Arriving in Walford in the Autumn was confident newcomer Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness), who swiftly got a job at The Albert and began a romance with Oscar Branning (Pierre Counihan-Moullier).

However, fans were suspicious of Jasmine due to her cageyness about sharing identity papers at work and her apparent fixation on her new boss, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins).

The focus on Cindy, along with Jasmine’s focus on revenge and even breaking into GP records, led the Beales-Brannings to fear she was connected to the Ford crime family, who had forced Cindy to previously fake her death and go into witness protection.

This resulted in Cindy fleeing Walford and Jasmine being arrested. Then, in the police interview, the truth was revealed: Jasmine was Zoe Slater’s daughter, alive and well.

Despite some interactions with her mother, Jasmine remained focused on revenge against her birth mother, revealed in flashbacks as Zoe’s tormentor.

Sadly, Jasmine had some doubts, but these were discouraged by her accomplice…

Chrissie Watts returns

In a shock twist on Christmas Eve, it was finally revealed that while Jasmine (unsurprisingly) was the person who had been tormenting Zoe, her contact and surely the true architect of Zoe’s misery was revealed to be Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman).

Chrissie was last seen riding off into the sunset with old love Jake Moon (Joel Beckett) after being released from prison last year after serving two decades for the murder of her husband ‘Dirty’ Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) in 2005. Chrissie briefly crossed paths in prison with Den’s adopted daughter and ‘princess’ Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), and they made peace.

However, it seems that Chrissie has not made peace with her bitter history with Zoe…

Sam Mitchell has breast cancer

The third of the “Witches of Walford” and the sister of Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), Sam Mitchell, also returned ahead of Christmas and initially tried to steal money from Phil (again) to give to her son Ricky Branning (Frankie Day).

However, viewers and Phil soon discovered that Sam had found a lump in her breast and feared she now had breast cancer like her late mother, Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor), following a previous scare over two decades prior.

Sam and Phil reconciled, and he vowed to stand by her during this health journey.

Meanwhile, Zoe feared that Sam was her stalker, with Kat even accusing Sam on Christmas Eve, before Sam revealed her diagnosis and shared a nice moment with Kat.

Sam is due to have a lumpectomy, followed by radiotherapy and medication and is likely to make a full recovery considering how early it is being treated.

So, while good news awaits, what will Sam say when she runs into Chrissie?

Vicki Fowler’s love triangle

Speaking of Dirty Den Watts, his younger daughter Vicki Fowler (ow played by Alice Haig) is also back in Walford and has reconciled with her boyfriend, Ross Marshall (Alex Walkinshaw).

The pair have been in a long-term relationship since Vicki cheated on and left her partner, Spencer Moon (Christopher Parker), in Australia; Spencer having also been Ross’s best pal.

However, Ross also came accompanied by his troubled teenage son, Joel Marshall (Max Murray). Joel has been radicalised by an exposure to extreme misogyny online and has committed multiple sex crimes – one of which Ross previously paid to cover up in Australia.

Joel’s bad behaviour picked up again once in Walford – including sexual assault, harassment, and indecent imagery – with Vicki herself even paying off one of Joel’s victims.

Yet, there was no end to his bad behaviour, with Joel ultimately grievously assaulting Vicki and leaving her for dead. Vicki survived, and Joel was arrested after being turned in by both Ross and his own friend Tommy Moon.

Joel is currently on remand ahead of his trial – and he won’t be pleading guilty.

In the aftermath, Vicki struggled and pushed Ross away, instead growing closer to her adopted sister Sharon Watts’s (Letitia Dean) half-brother, Zack Hudson (James Farrar).

Knowing the potential fallout from such a connection with Sharon, who is currently away from Walford and staying with Vicki’s mother, Michelle (Sue Tully, Jenna Russell), and having been discouraged by her great-aunt Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Vicki told Zack they had to leave it there.

Vicki and Ross have since reconciled, and he has moved back into Sharon’s place with her, but the spark with Zack remains.

On Christmas Eve, Zack’s biological son Barney Mitchell (Lewis Bridgeman) noticed that a romantic connection existed there…

Max Branning discovers family betrayal

Of course, the other big comeback in recent weeks was legendary Walford lothario Max Branning (Jake Wood), who arrived back following a fire that almost claimed the life of his son Oscar Branning and former lover Zoe.

Aside from trying to reconnect with Oscar and his eldest child, Lauren Beale (Jacqueline Jossa), Max also ran into former lover Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).

After accidentally outing Lauren’s secret of stealing charity money after she was scammed into playing for a medical treatment for her severely sight-impaired son, Jimmy, Max defended Lauren to the locals. In the aftermath, Lauren encouraged Linda to come clean about the fact that her four-year-old daughter Annie Carter (Lois Hawkins) was actually Max’s daughter – a secret that Lauren, Oscar and Max’s younger brother Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) were also aware of.

Ultimately, last week, Linda came clean and told Max that he had a third surviving child in Annie. Max was then eager to build a relationship with his daughter, but Linda wanted to take this very slowly.

Undeterred, Max took Annie to Santa’s Grotto under false pretences and later told her that he was her father. Linda was furious when she discovered this and was willing to take him to court.

However, Jack managed to persuade Linda to go easier on Max and to come together for Annie. Linda ultimately did and allowed Max to spend time with his daughter on Christmas Eve.

Then, feeling neglected by his father and drunk from multiple tipples at The Vic, Oscar told his dad the brutal truth that his family were aware of Annie’s paternity long before he was.

The stage is set for an explosive confrontation on Christmas Day.

Nigel Bates’s “last Christmas”

Returning to Walford on Christmas Eve 2024, EastEnders 90s icon Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) later revealed that he had been diagnosed with young-onset dementia and had abandoned his wife Julie (Karen Henthorn) to avoid being a burden to her.

Taken in by his old friend Phil, Nigel took a job in the cafe with his old friend Kathy, and as his condition worsened, Phil promised to be there for Nigel until the end.

Eventually, Julie made her way to Walford and was reunited with Nigel, and despite attempting to return home to Scotland with him, ultimately came to live with him and Phil in Albert Square, also taking a job at Walford High.

However, in recent weeks, Nigel’s condition worsened to the point of hallucinations, confusion, and having conversations with people who aren’t there. He also accidentally injured Julie.

Earlier this week, the Square had a screening of a film they made of an old script, but Nigel grew distressed at Julie’s injury and fled, before overhearing a disagreement between Phil and Julie about whether he may need to go into care.

Nigel fled to the Queen Vic and experienced visions of old Square icons Pat Evans (Pam St. Clement), Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson), and his late first wife, Debbie Bates (Nicola Duffett). Ultimately, Nigel realised that he would need to go into care, as did a heartbroken Phil and Julie.

So, they are all determined to give him one ‘last’ amazing Christmas at home.