Martin Fowler dies as Denise chooses Jack in dramatic live EastEnders broadcast

Long-serving EastEnders character Martin Fowler (James Bye) has died of a cardiac arrest and viewers have voted for Denise Fox (Diane Parish) to reunite with her estranged husband Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) in a live episode of the BBC One soap.

In the aftermath of an explosion at the Queen Vic on Wednesday, Martin remained trapped under a beam in the pub at the start of Thursday’s episode as part of the programme’s 40th anniversary week.

While pinned to the ground he told Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) that he loved her and she responded by telling him she felt the same, saying yes when he proposed.

Stacey was taken aside by a paramedic who told her Martin was likely to suffer from crush syndrome, which would put him into kidney failure and a cardiac arrest when the beam was lifted.

The pair kissed before the rescue began, with Stacey telling him: “It’s going to be alright.”

Martin, born in August 1995 in the first year the soap was broadcast, at first appeared to survive as the beam was lifted, but moments later went into cardiac arrest and paramedics were unable to save him.

Martin’s father Arthur, played by Bill Treacher, appeared in the first scene of the first EastEnders episode in February 1985, which saw him break in to elderly neighbour Reg Cox’s house with Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) and Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih) where they found Reg unconscious in his chair.

Early in Thursday’s live episode it was revealed that soap fans had voted for Denise to reunite with Jack, rather than choose to stay with her secret flame Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).

She entered Jack’s home while a disappointed Ravi watched and kissed Jack after telling him: “I feel safe with you Jack, I want to feel safe.”

When Jack asked about Ravi, Denise said: “Look it’s not like that, Ravi and me, it’d never go anywhere. We’re from like two different worlds, and I see a future with you, Jack, and our history that runs deep.

“My feelings haven’t changed, I still love you.”

Denise and Jack’s tumultuous marriage fell apart last year when it was revealed he had been having an affair with Stacey.

Since they parted, the pair have given in to their passion a few times and also shared warm moments with their blended family, but Denise has also secretly been seeing former flame Ravi since a romantic encounter on Christmas Day.

They had a complicated relationship due to Ravi’s troubled past and his earlier romance with her daughter Chelsea (Zaraah Abrahams).

In another vote, EastEnders fans voted for Martin’s ex-wife, Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) to name her baby Julia.

Sonia gave birth in the rubble of the Queen Vic following the explosion with the help of half-sister Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) and Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa).

As she began to push, Lauren told Sonia, known for her poor musical skills as a teenager: “Blow like you blowed that trumpet.”

After it was born, her baby began to turn blue and Sonia was seen struggling in the aftermath before the child began to cry as emergency services arrived to rescue them.

Sitting in the back of an ambulance, Sonia told her daughter: “So welcome to the world Julia, it’s all about to begin.”

Viewers also had the choice to name the baby Toni, paying homage to EastEnders’ creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland.

As part of the 40th anniversary celebrations, EastEnders viewers were allowed to vote on key storylines for the first time.

The first EastEnders live episode was broadcast on the 25th anniversary in 2010 and revealed Stacey had killed Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb).

The soap marked its 30th anniversary in 2015 with EastEnders: The Week Of Revelations, with live elements across five episodes based around the wedding of Ian and Jane Beale (Adam Woodyatt and Laurie Brett).