9 EastEnders Spoilers as Cindy learns she slept with Max!

This week on EastEnders, Cindy and Max learn each other’s identities, more information comes to light about Anthony’s death, Patrick meets his granddaughter, and Harry and Ravi return.

1) Who killed Anthony?

A tense confrontation between Anthony (Nicholas Bailey) and Zoe (Michelle Ryan) on Christmas Day saw Kat (Jessie Wallace) discover Zoe passed out upstairs, with Anthony’s lifeless body next to her – seemingly dead.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, after Kat made Alfie (Shane Richie) empty out The Vic, Zoe came face to face with her daughter, as she finally learnt Jasmine’s (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) true identity.

She also discovered that Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman) was her tormentor, and had been working with Jasmine for the past few months to get revenge on her – Chrissie wanting revenge for Zoe not facing the consequences of Den’s death, and Jasmine wanting revenge for Zoe abandoning her at birth.

After Chrissie fled, Zoe called the police and handed herself in, believing herself to be responsible for Anthony’s death, even if she knew she was acting in self defence.

As the week came to a close, Jasmine learnt from Kat that the recently deceased man in The Vic was in fact her father, and Kat realised that there was a strong possibility that Chrissie had been responsible for his death.

Next week, Phil’s (Steve McFadden) solicitor Ritchie (Sian Webber) arrives at the police station after Kat called in a favour with her ex-husband, and she gives Zoe an update – Anthony suffered two injuries, meaning Chrissie could well have been responsible for the one which contributed to his death.

Despite now knowing that she might not have been to blame, Zoe calls Kat and makes her promise not to go after Chrissie, fearing that it would only put Jasmine in the frame – she wants to protect her daughter, no matter what!

Back on Albert Square, Patrick (Rudolph Walker) is distraught at having lost a second son, and just hours after suggesting to Anthony that he wished he’d died instead of Paul.

He heads outside and demands answers from the police, who are busy investigating, but they can’t give him any answers.

After heading to the police station and once again failing to find out anything useful, he heads to No. 31 to confront Kat.

2) Max and Cindy come face to face

Max has had an eventful couple of weeks back in Walford, inadvertently uncovering that Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) had stolen the charity funds from The Vic’s pub quiz fundraising efforts, discovering that Annie was his daughter, and then sleeping with Cindy (Michelle Collins).

Of course, Cindy didn’t know who he was, neither bothering to ask the other’s name during their drunken encounter at The Albert, and still has no idea that she slept with the man responsible for the death of son Steven.

Next week, despite the Brannings still being fractured after Max discovered that his family knew about Annie’s parentage, they try to put on a brave face to celebrate baby Jimmy’s christening.

However, Lauren and Peter are preoccupied with the prospect of Cindy and Max meeting for the first time, and they make the difficult decision to uninvite Max, using his behaviour at Christmas as an excuse.

Yet when Max gives Lauren a thoughtful gift for Jimmy, and seems visibly upset at the idea of not being involved in the christening, Lauren reconsiders and decides to invite him, against Peter’s wishes.

When Cindy learns that Max has been re-invited, she tells Peter that she won’t be going if Max is there. However, there’s seemingly no need for her to worry, as Max soon finds himself uninvited once more when Jack drops a bombshell.

Unfortunately, Max chooses to ignore Lauren’s warning and heads to the church, arriving at the christening just as Lauren and Peter think the day couldn’t get any worse.

How will Cindy react when she realises who she slept with on Christmas Day?

3) Harry and Ravi return

Next Monday, Harry (Elijah Holloway) returns to Albert Square after his stint in rehab. Gina (Francesca Henry) is delighted to have him back, but Harry, who’s still recovering, makes it clear that they need to put things between them on hold for now.

Unfortunately for Harry, he’s not the only one on his way back home, as Ravi (Aaron Thiara) also arrives back in Walford next week. No, we can’t remember where he went either.

He gets a happy reunion with Priya (Sophie Khan Levy), Nugget (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) and Avani (Aaliyah James), but he has no idea that Harry is watching him from afar, stewing and plotting his revenge…

Kojo (Dayo Koleosho) is also delighted to have his best friend back at home, but soon realises that Harry’s mind is only on one thing – getting back at Ravi.

Kojo encourages him to try and forget it and move on, but it’s clear that Harry’s got no intention of letting it drop.

Later, Harry reunites with Barney (Lewis Bridgeman) in the café, and asks his brother to move back in to No. 1, but Barney makes it clear that he’s enjoying living with Zack (James Farrar), away from the drama.

Harry disappointingly accepts Barney’s decision, and it’s soon proven that Barney has made the right choice. Harry and Ravi bump into each other out on the Square, where Harry vents his frustration…

4) Nicola talks some sense into Max

After Cindy and Max come face to face in the church, they immediately realise each other’s identities, and the shocked congregation soon learn that the pair slept together on Christmas Day.

As everyone heads back to Albert Square, Oscar tries to give Max a pep talk and convince him to right his wrongs, but Max has no interest in listening to anyone’s advice, and instead heads to Harry’s Barn to drown his sorrows.

Linda (Kellie Bright) soon arrives and tries to talk some sense into her former fling, but she fails too – Max snaps back at her, upsetting her in the process.

Nicola is the third person to have a go, having seen Linda and Max’s fight from across the bar. She delivers him some home truths about his behaviour, finally prompting him to head out into the night and try to right his wrongs.

Over the road at No. 45, the Beales and Brannings are settling in for a drink after the eventful christening, but it’s clear that nobody’s in the mood for celebrating. And we’re not sure that a drunken Max arriving home from Harry’s Barn is going to change that…

5) Patrick meets his granddaughter

With Zoe’s trial approaching – don’t things happen quick in Walford? – Kat panics that time is running out to find Chrissie.

Meanwhile, Jasmine gets offended when she jumps to the wrong conclusion with Kat, and she flees. She finds Oscar, where she finally confides her true identity to him – she’s not a Ford, she’s the daughter of Zoe and Anthony!

Oscar manages to convince Jasmine to speak to Patrick, but as she heads to No. 20, things don’t go as she hoped they would.

6) Max tries to fix things as New Year’s Eve arrives

On Wednesday, the Square excitedly prepare to ring in the New Year, with a party at Harry’s Barn.

Determined to fix things with Lauren, Max asks Oscar to help him set up a secret meeting with her at The Vic, and Oscar feels like he’s got no choice but to say yes.

As Lauren and Max meet, Lauren is fuming with her dad for his actions, and for using Oscar to get them to meet.

Later in the day, Max heads to Harry’s Barn in a last-ditch attempt to fight for his family, before a special New Year’s episode gives us a look at what’s in store in a year’s time…

7) Phil and Julie start the search for care homes

After Christmas Eve’s touching episode, which saw Nigel reconnect with Pat (Pam St Clement), Barry (Shaun Williamson), ex-wife Debbie (Nicola Duffett), and young Phil (Daniel Delaney) and Grant (Teddy Jay), Phil finally realised that he and Julie (Karen Henthorn) needed some extra support as his early-onset dementia symptoms continued to worsen.

Next Wednesday, Honey (Emma Barton) and Billy (Perry Fenwick) look after Nigel as Phil and Julie head out to look at prospective care homes.

However, Nigel soon mistakes Honey for Julie, and Billy is left bemused as he’s forced to watch Nigel trying to flirt with his wife.

8) Harry takes his revenge

Meanwhile, Harry resumes his job at the Arches after his return from rehab, but it soon becomes clear that he’s still struggling after everything that’s happened over the past 12 months.

Phil tries to buoy his employee, but Harry manages to misconstrue Phil’s words, thinking that Walford’s hard man is giving him confirmation that he should seek revenge on Ravi.

Soon after, Nicola spots Harry about to jump Ravi from behind. Can she stop her son from making another huge mistake?

9) A New Year’s look ahead…

On New Year’s Day, EastEnders airs a special episode, a flash-forward to New Year’s Day 2027!

As we enter 2026, we’ll see what’s set to happen exactly a year later, as we get some clues as to what the next year holds for Max Branning – and next year’s festive period is set to be just as dramatic as this year’s.

But just what has happened, and why remains to be revealed over the next 12 months…

A recently-released trailer for the episode shows that it appears Max will be getting married next New Year, but Jack clearly isn’t happy about it.

We see him on the square shouting at Ian that his brother’s life “is just one big game, init? Kiss, marry, kill!”

We also see police swarming Elaine’s (Harriet Thorpe) new boutique hotel, before Max is arrested.

As the police take him away, he shouts out: “How could you do this to me, Lauren?” as she watches on in horror.

What has Max done? Well, we’ve only got a year until we find out…

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Here are the EastEnders spoilers for this week:

Monday 29th December (Episode 7251)

The Beales and the Brannings prepare to celebrate Jimmy’s christening, and one Walford family attempts to navigate a way forward, following Christmas.

Tuesday 30th December (Episode 7252)

A situation escalates at Jimmy’s christening, Kojo attempts to help a friend, and the drama of Christmas is far from over for one family

New Year’s Eve – Wednesday 31st December (Episode 7253)

New Year celebrations take over Walford, the Brannings turn on one of their own, and Phil offers advice.

New Year’s Day – Thursday 1st January 2026 (Episode 7254)

A flashforward episode set in 2027.

Secrets are revealed in an exclusive window on what’s to come for one Walford family in 2026.

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