As much as we like spoilers, we also like surprises. And sometimes a certain plot development is so unexpected it gets us screaming at the telly. Here are nine of the most surprising soap twists that we didn't see coming:
1. Danielle's death (EastEnders)
It will go down as one of the most heartbreaking scenes in EastEnders, and also the most shocking. In a time when surprise deaths weren't really a thing, Danielle's was unexpected – not to mention untimely, considering she had reunited with estranged mother Ronnie just moments before.
Ronnie cried, we cried, and some distraught fans even tried to bring Danielle back. An unlikely scenario, yes, but Ronnie's late daughter still got mentioned a whole lot more than we ever expected when her adoptive brother Andy joined the Square.
2. Lynsey's murder (Hollyoaks)
Much like Danielle's death, Lynsey Nolan's was one no-one saw coming. Hollyoaks delivered this game-changer of a story back in 2012 when Lynsey was found dead on the sofa at home after being strangled – with no prior warning of her exit.
Lynsey's death opened up a whole new world, in which spoilers don't always spoil everything, and this shocker of a plot left fans wondering who could be next.
3. John Paul is Sally's son (Hollyoaks)
Okay, so some fans may have spotted it, but that doesn't mean the rest of us weren't surprised when John Paul was revealed to be Sally's son. In true soap twist style, the revelation had been kept under wraps until transmission, finally being exposed when Myra McQueen paid a visit to Hollyoaks High, where Sally had taken a teaching job to be closer to John Paul.
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To be fair, there had been a few clues along the way, but in a village where so much is happening, less eagle-eyed viewers could be forgiven for missing them. The big question following this bombshell was not if, but when, John Paul would learn the truth. And of course, he did.
4. Rachel returning at Charity's trial (Emmerdale)
We all thought we had seen the last of Rachel Breckle when she bowed out of the village in 2014, but how wrong we were. Emmerdale fans were treated to a soap surprise when Gemma Oaten made a shock return in the role – turning up during Charity Dingle's trial.
And the twists weren't over there, either. An even more surprising turn of events saw Rachel deliver the evidence which proved crucial in securing a guilty verdict for Charity, and thus sent her to prison. This all paved the way for Emma Atkins' maternity leave, something which had also been kept under wraps in a bid to not spoil the outcome of the trial.
5. Gavin revealed as an imposter (Coronation Street)
Gavin's arrival and subsequent reunion with Michael did all seem a bit too good to be true. Because it was. Coronation Street delivered a rather rare surprise back in 2014 when Michael's estranged son Gavin was revealed to be an imposter (his real name was Andy and the whole thing had derived from a joke that got out of hand.)
While some fans had undoubtedly guessed that "Gavin" was up to no good beforehand, many hadn't. And from then on, we knew everything was going to explode...
6. Kat has a secret son (EastEnders)
We thought EastEnders had delivered us all the Slater twists in the book after Zoe's mother was revealed to be Kat back in 2001. But then Kat went to a convent and everything changed. Whilst we did know that Kat would be paying a visit to the place she gave birth to daughter Zoe, what we didn't know was what would be revealed there.
And it was all rather shocking. It soon transpired that Kat had unknowingly given birth to twins back in 1984 and had a boy, but while viewers might have been let in on this surprising scenario, Kat didn't find out until a whole eight months later. And as for the mystery Slater son? Well, we found out about that one in spin-off series Redwater.
7. Tess dies (Emmerdale)
Paddy's affair was never going to end well, but did anyone actually think it would end in a death? Emmerdale killed off Paddy's other woman in a shocking episode in 2016, when she lost her life after a tragic hit-and-run accident at the hands of Kirin Kotecha.
But with every end is a new beginning and while Tess might have gone for good, her grisly exit did pave the way for her husband Pierce to arrive.
8. Tegan and Diane's babies were swapped (Hollyoaks)
Soaps love a good baby swap, but Hollyoaks blew all the others out of the water with this one. Back in 2014, a shock twist saw fans learn that Diane and Tony Hutchinson's daughter had been switched with Tegan Lomax's baby when both children were born at the Dee Valley Hospital over a year before.
But if fans thought that was shocking, they hadn't seen anything yet as the plot ran and ran (and ran) until the truth came out another year later. And even then it wasn't fully resolved until Tegan's death this year.
9. Kathy's return (EastEnders)
EastEnders delivered the mother of all surprises when Kathy Beale returned from the dead.
If we thought the biggest twist of the show's huge 30th anniversary week was going to be the revelation of Lucy's killer, then we were very much mistaken.
Kathy's comeback was a piece of genius that no-one saw coming (and if you did, we don't believe you!) What followed was all rather complicated, not to say crazy, but it doesn't matter because Kathy will always be the owner of one of EastEnders' biggest OMG moments. Ever.
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