With chaos for Max Branning in EastEnders, a murder plot for Peter Barlow and Billy Mayhew in Coronation Street, and a never-ending Christmas Day nightmare for Robert Sugden in Emmerdale, the festive season looks set to be anything but jolly in Soapland this year. But then again, that's hardly surprising.
While real-life Christmas is a time for rejoice, celebration and plenty of festivities (okay, massive family rows and drinking), for our favourite soap characters it is often a time of doom, divorce, death and affair reveals. Plus even the odd natural disaster. So here are eight of the most memorable festive storylines, with their own Christmas Cracker rating...
1. DIRTY DEN'S DIVORCE SURPRISE - EASTENDERS
Den always did know how to ruin someone's day – and him serving Angie divorce papers for her Christmas dinner was no exception. 30 million viewers tuned in on Christmas Day 1986 to see the couple's tempestuous relationship take one of the biggest turns of all time, following Den's discovery that Angie had lied about being terminally ill.
It would be unusual to find a soap fan, young or old, who hasn't heard about this classic moment and it even managed to score the show one of the best Christmas TV audiences of all time.
2. HILDA'S FAREWELL - CORONATION STREET
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Christmas Day 1987 saw Coronation Street lose one of its most iconic characters – cleaning lady Hilda Ogden. Hilda hung up her curlers with a sentimental send-off in The Rovers, where she sang a wartime anthem with her friends before bowing out of Weatherfield forever. The storyline followed Jean Alexander's decision to leave, and Hilda's emotional departure still has Corrie's highest viewing figures of all time, with over 27 million people tuning in.
3. CLARE TRIES TO KILL MAX - HOLLYOAKS
A stunt, a kidnap, a money scam and a murder plan make up all the ingredients for an explosive Hollyoaks Christmas and they certainly pulled out all the stops in 2006. After learning of her husband Max's £500,000 life insurance policy, Clare ever so festively decided to kill him and claim the money for herself.
After taking Max and his brother Tom to a secluded cottage for a festive break, she tampered with Max's medication, before trying to drown poor Tom in a lake. Max and Tom both survived – but it wasn't quite the happy Christmas getaway they had envisaged, that's for sure.
4. THE PLANE CRASH - EMMERDALE
Christmas is notoriously an unhappy time in soaps, but nothing can compare to the misery that Emmerdale inflicted in 1993 when it killed off four regulars... and a dog. In what was arguably the soap's biggest stunt ever, fans watched in horror as a plane crashed into The Woolpack just as the residents were preparing to see in the New Year.
The tragedy not only had long-lasting consequences for several of the survivors, but it also changed the history of the show – as the village of Beckindale was transformed into what is now known as Emmerdale. The disaster apparently cost more than £1 million to film, but drew in 18 million viewers in return, giving the show its highest ever ratings.
5. MAX AND STACEY'S AFFAIR REVEAL - EASTENDERS
This explosive, intense, nail-biting episode had been a long time coming, but it still left everyone on the edge of their seats during Christmas Day 2007. Stacey and Max's affair had started exactly a year before, but it was finally exposed in sensational style when the Slater-Brannings gathered around the television to watch her and Bradley's wedding DVD of doom. Of course, some meddling from Lauren meant that the DVD contained a rather unpleasant surprise, and both Stacey and Max were left with a whole lot of explaining to do. Eek!
Fast forward ten years, and nothing has really changed for the Brannings because the family are set to have another rocky Christmas this year when Max finally gets his comeuppance. Seeing as he is King of uncomfortable Christmas telly, we are sure it'll be another cracker...
6. BECCA AND JUSTIN'S AFFAIR BEGINS - HOLLYOAKS
Hollyoaks kicked off one of their biggest storylines of the coming year in 2005's Christmas episode, when teacher Becca slept with her teenage student Justin Burton. Not content with playing charades with her mother-in-law Frankie Osborne, Becca cheated on her husband Jake by giving into temptation after she headed over to Justin's house.
Sadly, there was no happy ending on the cards for the pair, as their affair eventually resulted in Becca losing her job and being sent to prison, where she was later killed. She really should have stuck to playing Christmas games with Frankie...
7. THE STORM - EMMERDALE
Not content with 1993's Christmas misery, Emmerdale had another trick up its sleeve a decade later. To mark the 10th anniversary of the well-received plane crash tragedy, further devastation hit the Dales when a rather deadly storm gatecrashed everyone's festive fun.
Marlon Dingle's wife Tricia was the unfortunate victim of this particular disaster when she got trapped amid all the chaos. In an even sadder, soap-style twist, she had actually been on her way to reconcile her fractured marriage with Marlon but was never given the chance. Sob!
And finally...
8) KAT AND ALFIE'S WEDDING - EASTENDERS
EastEnders broke the habit of a lifetime back in 2003 when they aired a – wait for it – happy Christmas storyline! Yes, that's right: Kat and Alfie finally tied the knot in uplifting scenes (fake registrars aside), and everyone celebrated outside on the Square as (equally) fake snow fell down and Christmas tunes blared out.
