EastEnders: Lucy Beale's killer revealed? Max Branning 'confesses on live TV'

Actor Jake Wood jokingly confessed to the soap whodunnit as he was spotted in the audience at a darts game on Sky Sports

There's no need to wait for the big reveal on EastEnders next month - Max Branning killed Lucy. This according to the Strictly snake hips himself, actor Jake Wood.

The Walford soap star was spotted in the audience of a live darts game on Sky Sports on Saturday and couldn't help but make the most of his moment in the spotlight.

Jake, 42, teased viewers by holding up a sign reading, "I killed Lucy", along with a shocked-face smiley.

The moment lasted mere seconds but one eagle-eyed viewer quickly caught it and uploaded it . HERE

The identity of Lucy's killer won't be revealed officially until the February 19th episode of EastEnders, which marks the BBC One soap's 30th anniversary.

And while Jake's tongue appears to be firmly in his cheek, a confession from Max isn't so far-fetched.

The Albert Square lothario is among the 14 suspects tipped to be revealed as Lucy's killer after the numbers were whittled down in Thursday's New Year's Day episode.

During the dramatic episode, Emma Summerhayes tracked down the killer but was then run over and died - but not before sending one final text message to the murderer.

As Emma collapsed in the street, she desperately clung to her broken phone and hit 'send', which caused a beeping tone to emit from the crowd of conveniently placed 14 suspects meaning that one of them is actually the murderer.

Max was among those in the square along with his daughters Abi and Lauren Branning, as well as Lucy's own family including dad Ian Beale, stepmother Jane and twin brother Peter.

Abi - played by Lorna Fitzgerald - is currently bookies' favourite to be exposed as the killer and Ladbrokes even revealed that viewers have staked £10,000 on her in the last week alone.

Emma Summerhayes actress Anna Acton also has a hunch Abi or dad Max may be the killer.

"The story team at EastEnders is very clever and I figured that they'd put Emma in the Branning household for a reason," she explained to RadioTimes.com.

"And when she discovered the truth, I believe that there must have been a strong reason as to why she didn't go to the police straight away. Is it because it's Abi and Emma's love for Max prevented her from going to the authorities?"