An EastEnders character made a shock return to Walford this week and you absolutely didn’t spot him – it’s just facts.

Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) headed back to Albert Square recently for Keanu Taylor’s (Danny Walters) funeral. He was killed on Christmas Day by Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), with The Six

then burying his body under the floorboards in the café.

Behind bars for the crime is actually Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo). After Keanu’s body was discovered, The Six worked together to frame Dean and send him to prison.

Yesterday (June 13), Karen and Bernie Taylor (Clair Norris) were inundated with support from the Walford residents as they all prepared to say goodbye to Keanu.

Prior to the event, Karen was seen in the café talking to Kat (Jessie Wallace) about the number of people attending.

She revealed that her other children – Chatham and Riley – as well as partner Mitch Baker (Roger Griffiths) weren’t able to face the emotional day.

Towards the end of the episode, after Keanu was laid to rest, a throwaway comment in a scene confirmed Karen had more support from her family than we realised.

When Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) took a call from Tiffany Butcher (Maisie Smith), it was revealed Keanu’s brother Keegan Baker (Zack Morris) had flown in from Germany for the funeral but because he ‘went straight to the airport’, we never actually saw him on screen!Keegan left Albert Square in 2022 alongside Tiffany. Shortly after the truth about murderous Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith) was revealed, Keegan reunited with Tiffany and they departed the show, choosing to start afresh in Germany.

Elsewhere, in the rest of the episode that aired on BBC One last night, Karen paid a visit to Dean in prison, wanting some sort of closure on her son’s murder.