It’s not been a great week for EastEnders – with fans spotting what appeared to be a huge blunder in a key scene, before labelling a major character’s death a “travesty”. Tuesday (8 September) night’s episode ended on a cliffhanger as Max Branning (Jake Wood) suffered a heart attack at the altar on his wedding day to Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), teeing up a dramatic start to the next installment. But just after the opening credits on Wednesday (9 September), Max’s loved ones were seen standing still instead of rushing to help him – before springing into action a few seconds later.
Fans on social media also spotted that the actors appeared to look towards a director before jumping towards Wood. Sharing a clip of the blunder on X, one viewer wrote: “Did the episode start before the director said action? Surely that first shot wasn’t edited properly because why is everyone just stood there for the first few seconds?” “This is absolutely bonkers,” another wrote.
Fans were then dealt another blow later in the episode as Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) was killed off, with the character quietly dying in bed after suffering a head injury. Zoe was found dead in the night by her devastated mother, Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) – but the storyline left a number of fans unhappy. New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial.
Plan auto-renews until cancelled. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. The character – who delivered the iconic “You ain’t my mother” line back in 2001 – was brought back by the recently-installed EastEnders executive producer Ben Wadey, who said at the time: “I was absolutely delighted when Michelle agreed to return, and I'm thrilled to welcome her back to Walford.
So as sad as it was to hear that Zoe was going to be killed off, I was like, ‘I completely understand that,’” she said. But it was such a gift to be able to go back and have a year of playing her and getting to see all my old friends like [Laila Morse] and Jessie and Shane.” Ryan praised the “solid, brilliant cast” who she said were the “loveliest group of people”. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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