One of the best EastEnders whodunnits ever kicked off on Christmas Day in 2009 when Archie Mitchell was murdered with the bust of Queen Victoria from the Queen Vic pub.
In the build-up to the murder, evil Archie managed to alienate most of the Square.
Ex-wife Peggy was furious with him for manipulating and abusing her throughout their relationship.
Phil was plunged into debt thanks to Archie meddling with sister Sam’s bail payments, and daughter Ronnie, who was in a bad way thanks to the death of her daughter Danielle, hated her father with every bone in her body.
But that wasn’t all. Archie had also blackmailed Ian Beale with a recording of him having sex with Janine Butcher.
Soapbox Extra: Christmas Countdown 15 Clare Devine and Max Cunningham in Hollyoaks
He’d annoyed Janine, who was his new fiancee, and who was planning to double cross him.
Meanwhile, Bradley Branning gave Archie a smack round the chops and warned him to stay away from Stacey, who Archie had raped.
As the residents of Albert Square gathered to sing carols, each of the suspects slipped away. When Archie bent to pick up a snowglobe from the floor, he was hit round the head with the Queen Vic bust. His daughters Roxy and Ronnie found him as he lay dying and his last words were: “Veronica, I’m sorry.”
Archie’s killer was revealed to be Stacey Slater in the live episode celebrating the soap’s 25th anniversary in February 2010. A month later, a two-hander episode between Stacey and Max explained how she’d killed her rapist.
And Who Killed Archie went down in EastEnders history as one of the most well-plotted and best-kept secrets of all time!
