EastEnders' Diane Parish on Christmas whodunnit: "I'm really scared it's me"

A man is dead, blood is all over Stacey and Sharon is a bride!

So many questions? As if Denise's life wasn't hard enough being a love triangle between husband Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) and bad boy Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).

Now actress Diane Parish has discussed what the epic new storyline means for her alter-ego and her suspicions that Denise could be about to become a killer.

EastEnders has never aired a flash-forward scene before. How did you feel when you heard about the story?

I think we were all shocked at first but we were also intrigued and thought ‘wow what a brilliant idea’, what a bold, brave idea. Quickly afterwards we were like ‘but hold on flashforward means that we’ve got to stay looking the same for a whole year. Same haircut, same nails, everything’, and all those sort of things so it’s challenging in a number of ways.

How was it filming alongside Gillian, Letitia, Balvinder, Lacey and Kellie? Are you all excited to be in this together?

Oh yeah. Anytime you get the women together in this show it’s great. And we’re a nice little mix of women, and I’ve worked with all of these women for a long time. I haven’t worked with Bal [Balvinder Sopal] so much actually so it’s going to be fun over the next year doing a bit more with Bal, but I always enjoy working with the other ladies.

The end of the episode ends in a classic whodunit – can you give us any clues on who you think has done it, and who you think meets their fate?

I don’t dare say who it is, because I’m quite good at guessing things and I don’t want to say it and blow it. But in terms of whodunnit, I don’t know why but I think it’s me. I’m really scared it’s me, so I might have to make some plans, because I might be going down. If anyone out there can help me, help me (laughs). But no, I have absolutely no idea, and it could be any one of us because there’s so many strong stories going on with all six of us. We call ourselves ‘the six’ and with all of us we’re all driving towards a very clear point in terms of trouble, problems with the men in our lives, so there’s a lot going on for all of us so it literally could be any one of us.

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.

Read more:

• EastEnders cast: Who is joining, leaving and returning to the soap?
• EastEnders boss Chris Clenshaw spills epic Christmas flash-forward secrets
• EastEnders' Kellie Bright predicts dead character is someone we've not met
• EastEnders' Lacey Turner predicts "accidental death" in Christmas whodunnit
• EastEnders' Balvinder Sopal on Christmas killer: "I would like it to be Suki"
• EastEnders' Letitia Dean on flash-forward mystery: "I think it’s so open"
• EastEnders' Gillian Taylforth says flash-forward left cast "stunned"
• Patsy Kensit wraps filming for her EastEnders role as Emma Harding
• EastEnders casts 'Allo 'Allo! legend Vicki Michelle in mystery role
• Who are Lola Pearce's mum and dad in EastEnders and how is she a Mitchell?
• EastEnders' Kellie Bright teases Linda Carter’s future after Mick exit
• EastEnders confirms diagnosis for Whitney Dean’s baby
• EastEnders star James Bye calls for answer to Ruby Allen mystery
• EastEnders exit for Dr Ash Kaur as actress Gurlaine Kaur Garcha departs

Visit our dedicated EastEnders page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers. If you’re looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our Soaps hub.

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