As the UK rang in the New Year, EastEnders kicked off 2016 with two special episodes on BBC 1 on New Year’s Day.
The first instalment of the popular soap saw the build up of Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) and Linda Peacock’s (Kellie Bright) wedding, the day they had both been dreaming about since they were teenagers.
Fans of the drama will know that the build up has been stressful, after the devastating rape of Linda by Mick’s brother, Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo).
Things got off to a good start, with Dean nowhere in sight after fleeing his flat after attempting to rape his then girlfriend Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons). The preparations for the big day were going well.
But in the second episode, Dean returned to wreak havoc on the happy couple’s wedding, and argued with his mother Shirley Carter (Linda Henry). She had previously stood by her son thinking he was innocent but in the previous week she had walked in on him attacking Roxy.
During the argument Dean pushed his mother into the lake at the Hotel where the wedding was taking place. Looking for his mum, Mick saw what was going on and rushed in to save her from the evil rapist.
But Dean fought with his brother and held his head under the water, luckily Mick managed to knock Dean out and save Shirley.
It looked as though the evil rapist had finally met his maker, but Mick dived back into the water to drag his lifeless body out of the lake, and gave him CPR, saving his life.
Then the police turned up and Dean got arrested for the attempted rape of Roxy, so hopefully the attacker is looking at a very long stretch in prison.
The wedding happily got under way after the dramatic action at the lake side, with a soaked Mick, wearing his wife’s pink dressing gown for the ceremony.
Meanwhile back on the square, Ronnie (Samantha Womack) and Roxy’s estranged mother, Glenda (Glynis Barber) turned up and Denise Fox (Diane Parish) called the prison where her murderer ex husband, Lucas Johnson (Don Gilet) is serving his life sentence for his multiple murder charges.
During the phone call, Lucas made a shock return to the soap when we got to see him in his cell.
All this drama secured EastEnders the top ratings for New Year’s day with an estimated 8.29 million viewers tuning in, the most since the 30th anniversary week back in February 2015.