Lauren glaring at Penny in EastEnders
Lauren Branning makes her much anticipated return this New Year (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

EastEnders is starting 2024 as it means to go on with a dramatic New Year’s Day episode.

Following the murder of Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) on Christmas Day, The Six will continue to struggle with the guilt of their actions, but will they pull together or find themselves at odds?

Elsewhere, Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) and Zack Hudson (James Farrar) break the news to foster son Ashton that social services have found him a permanent home.

While this is good news for the young lad, Whitney and Zack both find it difficult to come to terms with letting him go, and cope with their grief in different ways.

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For Zack, it leads him to Peggy’s, where he hits the bottle with Martin Fowler (James Bye).

Having noticed Whitney struggling, Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) tries to cheer her up at the New Year’s Eve party, but Whitney is clearly preoccupied.

Back at home, she ends up taking a pregnancy test, and learns that she is expecting.

Whitney and Zack talk to foster child Ashton in EastEnders as he shows them a drawing
Whitney and Zack must break the news to Ashton (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

There are New Year’s Eve parties aplenty across Albert Square, and the Walford teens want there’s to be bigger and better than anyone’s.

In order to get the party started, one of them steals a case of beer from the Minute Mart, determined to get drunk.

However, it isn’t long before Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) and Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) catch them, and the teens are embarrassed to realise that the beer is actually alcohol free.

Penny Branning in front of a Christmas tree
Penny and Lauren decide to leave Paris (Picture: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

Terrified by the consequences of being caught, the teens come to an agreement with Yolande that they will do her a favour in exchange for her silence.

Following their tense Christmas Day together, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) continues to take umbrage with Cindy Beale’s (Michelle Collins) attempts to slot herself into George Knight’s (Colin Salmon) life.

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She is left shocked when she catches Cindy asking if George is happy with his life choices, but as George tries to explain himself, he is rocked by the arrival of two unexpected visitors – his parents, Gloria and Eddie.

Meanwhile, across the pond in Paris, Penny Branning (Kitty Castledine) and Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) decide that it is time to go back to Albert Square, after an eventful evening.

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