As BBC’s Eastenders marks its 40th anniversary, the drama in the square shows no signs of slowing down.
Last night’s episode saw the iconic Queen Vic go up in flames as an unfortunate chain of events caused Reiss (Jonny Freeman) to crash his car into the barrel store which in turn caused some gas canisters to explode.
Nearly every Watford resident was inside the pub at the time, celebrating Billy (Perry Fenwick) and Honey’s (Emma Barton) wedding reception.
The number of casualties remains unknown, but fans are starting to believe that Martin Fowler (James Bye) will be among them.
Martin, who has been on the show since his first appearance in 1985, has been involved in a love triangle with his two ex-wives, Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton) and Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner).
Moments before the explosion Stacey confessed her love to her ex-husband as the pair grew closer together during the previous months.
Fans have now taking to social media to discuss Martin’s future within the show. One fan took to reddit to prompting the question: “Is it bad i wouldn’t mind if Martin was killed off? Have him die saving Stacey. I know a lot of people want Ruby to die but id honestly rather it be Martin.”
To which one fan replied: “See this is the thing with Martin – it’ll be a ballsy move, the audience will be really sad and the impact will be massive on the Square.”
Another fan agreed, believing Martin’s death would have a big impact on the show, saying: “His character will have a bigger impact dead but the set up isn’t great so far. the storyline with ruby/stacey feels rushed and makes stacey seem childish.
The potential death of Martin has some fans divided on whether it’s the best move for the show, as one viewer wrote: “With my head, I think you’re right. With my heart (and as someone who’s been watching since 1985) I think it would be a real shame to kill off such a legacy character with connections to the very first episode.”
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Fans also noticed that James had removed any reference to the show from his Instagram a few weeks before the milestone week.
The actor, known for playing Martin, had previously listed the soap in the bio of his official page.
However, James’ bio now only includes his agent’s name, his management’s account and a tag to his wife’s profile.