\'EastEnders\' have poked fun at their own plots after three characters came back from the dead in the last 10 days.
Fans were left stunned when Ray Kelly - played by Sean Mahon - became the latest character to appear to have met his maker in last night\'s (03.01.19) dramatic double-parter, only for him to burst out of his newly-dug grave and attempt to murder Mel Owen (Tamzin Outhwaite) for the second time in a week.
It comes just days after Ray thought he had killed his wife Mel hours before their nuptials only for him to be left stunned when she turned up at the altar, and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) was also presumed dead after falling down the stairs on Christmas Day (25.12.18).
After last night\'s double episodes, a tweet on the official \'EastEnders\' Twitter account read: "Hopes for 2019:
1) New ringtone for Alfie
2) Ian Beale gets back his utensils
3) Walford residents undergo training on how to determine whether a person is living or dead
#EastEnders (sic)"
\'EastEnders\' fans, and Mel, thought Ray had died last night after she ran him over in her car during a dramatic face-off in the woods, only for him to later jump out of his grave and set about trying to strangle her to death for the second time in a week.
But his attempts were foiled when he was shot in the chest, and out of the darkness Mel\'s son Hunter Owen (Charlie Winter) appeared.
This comes just days after Ray strangled Mel on their wedding day, and presuming he had killed her, he put her in the cupboard under the stairs before heading to the church, despite assuming his then wife-to-be wouldn\'t turn up.
However, he had the shock of his life when she started walking down the aisle, sporting a neck scarf to cover up her bruises, and the pair went on to tie the knot.
Walford\'s double new year resurrections came after the Slaters thought Alfie had died on Christmas Day after Hayley Slater (Katie Jarvis) pushed him down the stairs.
But in a dramatic doof doof moment at the end of the episode, the family discovered he had fled the living room and taken his and Hayley\'s newborn baby Cherry with him.
But this is not the first time a character has come back from the dead on \'EastEnders\'.
Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) was killed off off-screen in 2006 when she was said to have perished in a car crash in South Africa.
But Gillian reprised her role in 2015 and remains a Walford resident today.
