Fans of EastEnders got an almighty shock at the end of the latest episode (airing 4th September on iPlayer and BBC One).

Linda Carter (played by Kellie Bright) struggled to come to terms with all the implications Dean’s (Matt Di Angelo) rape confession would have.

While she was relieved to finally get him to tell the truth after 10 years, Dean’s bombshell meant the trial for Keanu’s (Danny Walters) murder was thrown out the window.

The Six started to panic, believing they would be in trouble now with the police sniffing around once more.

And also, Linda’s witness statement would probably be thrown out now, given her complex history with Dean which could sway the jury.

Suki (Balvinder Sopal) told the women she was going to try to live every day as normal with the family they have fought hard to be with – with all the women apart from Linda resolving to do the same.

Having thought about it, Linda decided to do the morally right thing, and turn herself in to the police.

With a confession firmly on tape, it’s hard to see how Linda would escape jail time.

Which leads us to ask…

Is Linda Carter leaving EastEnders?
So far, there’s no official announcement about Linda’s future on EastEnders, let alone Kellie Bright’s.

However, with the way the storyline is going, it would be hard to see Linda evading prison; not only has she confessed to murder, but she has also perverted the course of justice for so long, too, so it’s hard to see how any defence would really help her out.

Furthermore, would she go to trial? We’ve seen this week how difficult the experience has been for Linda as a witness, so how would she cope on the stand trying to defend her actions?

While prison seems inevitable, that doesn’t necessarily mean Bright would have to quit EastEnders – she could do scenes inside the prison.

With a wealth of EastEnders characters in there, like Janine (!), there could be a plethora of storylines.

And of course, this is a soap – truly anything could happen.

We’ll keep this page updated if there’s any further clues or announcements about Linda Carter/Kellie Bright’s future on the soap.