EastEnders' Lucy Beale to be killed off at Easter!

(Image credit: BBC)

EastEnders' Lucy Beale is set for a shocking exit at Easter when she is killed off, sparking a long-running mystery storyline.

The character, currently played by Hetti Bywater, has featured in the soap since her birth in 1993 so many fans will be surprised at the upcoming plot.

According to the Radio Times, Lucy's death has been planned by executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins, who said at a press day in December that the Beale family were set for a big year on the BBC soap leading up to its 30th anniversary in February 2015.

Dominic, whose first TV job was devising deaths for Midsomer Murders, hinted: "A big story will hit the Beales around Easter and keep going until the 30th anniversary. It will shock, entertain and make the nation weep. And it will also give Adam Woodyatt - who is a brilliant actor and a lovely man - a chance to shine."

Adam Woodyatt plays Lucy's dad Ian Beale and will start to question how much he really knew about his daughter when secrets about her start spilling out after her death.

EastEnders bosses have promised the murder won't be a typical whodunnit, with very few people - maybe not even the killer - knowing exactly what happened to Lucy on the night she died, and the search for the culprit could go on for many months.

Lucy has been played by four different actresses in her time on the show - Eva Brittin Snell from 1993 to 1996, Casey Anne Rothery from 1996 to 2004, Melissa Suffield from 2004 to 2010 and Hetti since 2012.

EastEnders has had a number of high-profile whodunnits in the past, including Archie Mitchell's murder in 2009 and the "Who shot Phil Mitchell?" storyline in 2001.

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.