EastEnders favourites Abi and Lauren Branning appear to be 'DEAD' after a horrific fall from the Queen Vic roof.
In what is already being dubbed the 'most explosive' Christmas episode ever of the BBC soap, viewers watched in panic as the Branning sisters plunged to their doom.
Abi and Lauren, who are being written out of EastEnders after more than a decade, showed no signs of waking up as their distraught parents looked on.
EastEnders bosses pulled all the stops to give Lorna Fitzgerald and Jacqueline Jossa a spectacular exit which lefts fans in floods of tears on their sofas.
Tanya Branning has made a dramatic comeback and exposed Max's darkest secrets - revealing to her daughters, the Beales and Stacey Fowler that he murdered Steven, threatened Bobbie and tried to kill Jane.
Max desperately tried to delete Jane's incriminating voicemail messages, but he failed to get rid of them all, allowing Tanya to reveal his dastardly deeds.
There were callbacks to the epic Christmas Day episode in 2007 where Max and Stacey's affair was exposed, as Tanya worked out they were seeing each other again.
After a fight with Ian and a scuffle with Phil, where he was nearly shot, all of Max's loved ones washed their hands of the schemer, leaving him a broken man.
Stacey told Max that he should have fallen off the Queen Vic roof instead of Bradley, so the despairing father climbed on to the ledge and threatened to jump.
Abi and Lauren frantically ran up to save their dad, telling Max they still loved him, before both climbing dangerously onto the ledge.
Max agreed to come down but a strong gust of wind brought tragedy as the sisters were flung from the roof of the Queen Vic and crashed to the concrete.
A heartbroken Max watched on in horror as his daughters plummeted to the floor, before rushing down the stairs to check if they were still alive.
Tanya, Max and Stacey looked distraught as they stared down at Abi and Lauren's seemingly lifeless bodies.
he EastEnders Christmas Day episode will be the "most action packed" in the soap's history, according to actor Jake Wood.
Jake Wood told Mirror Online that the dramatic scripts were "the best" he's read during his 12 years in Walford and hoped they would leave fans on the edge of their seats.
The soap star was proved right when he said viewers wouldn't be able to "pause to take a breath" while watching the emotional scenes.
He admitted that the shocking twists and turns will "undoubtedly" change Albert Square forever, but believes there can be redemption for Max and hopes there is life for his character beyond this epic storyline.
* EastEnders continues on Boxing Day on BBC One at 7.30pm
