'Archie' on tenterhooks to find out who killed him

Larry Lamb thinks a woman will be unveiled as his murderer in 'EastEnders' on Friday.

The actor - who portrayed soap baddie Archie Mitchell in the BBC One show - is convinced his on-screen alter-ego was finished off by one of his female enemies and can’t wait to find out during the live show later this week.

He explained: "I sort of reckon on a female, that’s what I reckon. But I don't think it will be Peggy. Peggy's out soon but that’s it, that’s the queen there. You can't touch Peggy.

"I'd put money on a female but I have to say, I've got no idea which. Janine's got form, but I don't know."

Bosses on the show have been so secretive about the storyline, they even used a stuntman for the murder scene – which saw Archie die on Christmas Day (25.12.09) after being hit over the head with the Queen Vic bust.

The 62-year-old star explained: “Archie nor the audience knows who killed him. A stuntman did it – no actor did it. It was done in such a way that Archie couldn’t know who did it. He was aware something was going on and bam, that was that.”

Now the special live episode – which was organised as a celebration of the soap’s 25th anniversary – is just days away, Larry is convinced his former co-stars will be panicking over their scripts.

He said: “They must know already now. It will be in another zone in there now because that’s the build-up. They will be working on that now, the preparation. They’ve got to move around that whole big studio set-up there. There will be crews and crews, working on the build-up for Friday.

“There'll be a lot of very nervous actors. I'm getting nervous just thinking about it for them!"