Overview
- The special jumps to New Year’s Eve 2026 and focuses on Max Branning’s wedding to a mystery bride, confirmed by executive producer Ben Wadey.
- The episode airs on New Year’s Day at 7:30pm on BBC One and launches a year-long storyline built around planned narrative tentpoles.
- Producers tease deliberate misdirection and say viewers will start getting key answers from the very next episodes and throughout the coming months.
- Continuity measures include locking actors’ appearances for a year, with careful attention to background details and each featured character carrying a major arc.
- Promotional clues include a bloodstained buttonhole and a scene of Max waking beside a pregnant woman, while Jake Wood and Jacqueline Jossa say the cast do not know the bride and note it will be Max’s fifth wedding.