SPOILER ALERT: Lucy Beale's REAL killer is FINALLY revealed in shocking EastEnders twist... after Ian earlier accused Jane of murder
It's taken almost a year but we have finally found out what happened to EastEnders' Lucy Beale on Good Friday 2014.
In dramatic scenes on Thursday's double bill of the BBC soap, her brother Bobby Beale was unveiled as the killer.
It comes after a dramatic week in which numerous Walford residents turned on each other and accusations flew as to who sent Lucy to her death, with her father Ian pointing the finger at his new wife Jane in an earlier cliffhanger episode.
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Mystery solved: Bobby Beale was finally unveiled as Lucy Beale's killer on Thursday night's flashback special
The real killer: Bobby Beale - carrying the infamous music box - was revealed to have murdered his sister
In yet another shock twist during the second special flashback episode of EastEnders, it was revealed that Lucy’s little brother Bobby had killed her, presumably because he was tired of her drug problems tearing his family apart.
Jane Beale came home to discover the youngster standing alongside the troubled blonde’s body.
‘Whatever she says, she started it. She made everyone unhappy’, a vicious-looking Bobby declared, with the infamous music box in his hand - which was previously revealed to be the last sound she heard before her death.
Earlier on in the evening, viewers were made to believe that Jane was the killer in an hour-long semi-live special.
Ian put in a mysterious phone call, saying: ‘It’s me. I know. I know you killed Lucy. Get everyone out of the house, I’m coming home.’
The suspense mounted until the very last second when Jane walked into the room, with Ian declaring, ‘Tell me exactly what happened’.
ANOTHER red herring: Earlier in the evening, it was claimed that Jane Beale killed Lucy at the Beale family home on Good Friday last year
Following Peter Beale’s revelation on Wednesday night’s instalment that his twin Lucy had been killed at home, the episode began with his father Ian and stepmother Jane appearing incredulous at being accused of murder.
Disputing the veracity of Peter's girlfriend Lauren Branning’s claim, everyone was quick to pin the blame on Ian’s ex Denise Fox, who was living in the Beale household at the time of Lucy's death.
‘I’ll know the minute I ask her, I’ll see it in her eyes’, a furious Ian declared as he stormed off to confront her.
But the events of the night led the troubled newlywed to change his mind.
In a throwback to the soap’s very first scene 30 years ago, a group of Walford residents kicked down the door of Number 23 to find another dead body – this time, Nasty Nick Cotton’s.
And upon learning that the heroin addict's own mother Dot Cotton had chosen to let him die, the group - including Dot's grandson Charlie Cotton and Sharon Mitchell - decided to protect her by covering up the crime.
During an emotional chat with long-suffering Dot, the pensioner explained she had killed her villainous son to stop him from causing any more pain - and Ian realised that sometimes the killer can be closer to home than you might think.
'I snapped and I didn’t do it out of love, I did it out of anger for all the suffering he’d caused', Dot revealed, and everything clicked into place for Ian.
Revelation: The revelation came at the end of the hour-long special after Lucy's father Ian Beale finally figured out that his new bride was the killer
Turning herself in: It was during a chat with Dot Cotton - who left her son Nick to die - that Ian began to understand his new bride Jane could have killed Lucy
While God-fearing Dot decided to face up to her mistakes and turn herself in to the police, Ian decided to let Lucy's killer come to him.
As he struggled to come to terms with the truth, the grieving father bumped into Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter and asked him whether killing out of love made it any better.
'Sometimes it’s the people you love, it’s for all sorts of reasons. Is that better, do you think? Killing out of love, not hate?’, he mused.
‘You know, don’t you. You know who killed Lucy,’ Mick replied.
‘I didn’t. Not until tonight. But I’m putting the pieces together. It's someone we all know.'
EastEnders continues at 9.25pm, when it will be revealed exactly how and why feisty blonde Lucy was killed.
Fans haven't ruled out the prospect of there being another dramatic twist, with many speculating that Jane is covering for someone else.
BBC EastEnders tweeted: 'There's a KILLER twist coming your way...'
Emotional: Ian asked a confused Mick Carter whether killing out of love made it any better
The episode, penned by the show’s longest serving writer Rob Gittin, certainly wasn’t short on drama as several other major storylines came to a head.
Villainous Dean Wicks – who made an ominous return to Albert Square last night – took Nancy Carter hostage in a dramatic revenge plot.
Seeking retribution after the Carter family reported him to the police for raping his brother Mick’s wife Linda Carter, Dean planned to set fire to The Queen Vic and burn their business to the ground.
Luckily, Mick arrived just in time to confront his brother, knocking him to the ground and leaving him for dead outside the pub.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however, since new life was welcomed to the Square in the form of Kim Fox’s baby.
The dramatic live birthing scenes saw the character go into premature labour in the pub toilets, giving birth to a healthy baby girl – named Pearl – as the wedding party-goers waited anxiously outside.
Viewers were also treated to a hilarious showdown between Sonia Fowler and Kat Slater, which saw a hopelessly intoxicated Kat slam her rival's face down in Ian and Jane's wedding cake.
Dramatic showdown: Dean Wicks took Nancy Carter hostage, but her father Mick saved the day
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2960642/Lucy-Beale-s-killer-FINALLY-revealed-dramatic-live-episode-EastEnders.html#ixzz3SESeQXwD
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