EastEnders cast enjoy wild Christmas party ahead of the soap's festive special airing as Patsy Palmer takes to the DJ decks

The EastEnders cast enjoyed a wild Christmas party this week ahead of the soap's festive special airing on December 25.

Bianca Jackson actress Patsy Palmer, 52, took to the DJ decks at the swanky bash in London which saw them let their hair down after busy filming schedules. 

Fans of the soap will be waiting to see what happens on Christmas Day as Cindy Beale's affair with Junior Knight will finally be exposed.

Cast members, including Louisa Lytton (Ruby Allen), Michelle Collins (Cindy Beale), Colin Salmon (George Knight), Roland Manookian (Teddy Mitchell), and Tameka Empson (Kim Fox) also attended.

The crew were seen busting some moves on the dance floor before posing together for snaps. 

EastEnders is involved in a huge schedule shake-up this festive season after scraping the early release of episodes on BBC iPlayer. 

Over the past year, viewers of the soap have been able to watch instalments of the show on the streaming service the morning before they air. 

But BBC bosses have decided to take that luxury away from EastEnders fans. 

Now they will have to wait to watch the highly-anticipated Christmas Day instalment when it airs on our telly screens in the evening. 

The first instalment will come at 7:30pm, followed by another at 10:35pm on BBC One and iPlayer. 

The episodes are certainly not one to miss after the Beeb dropped EastEnders' explosive Christmas trailer earlier this month.

It looks like Cindy Beales' affair with her former step-son Junior Knight is about to come to light. 

On Monday viewers can watch EastEnders from 7:30pm, while on Christmas Eve it will broadcast at 7:45pm, and on Boxing Day it will air at 8:30pm.

Monday 30th December's instalment will air at 7:30pm, as well as New Year's Eve's. 

Meanwhile the EastEnders New Year's Day episode will be at 10pm. 

Fans will be happy to know that they will be treated to the early releases on December 30th and 31st, but then the New Year's Day one will be pulled from iPlayer. 

The EastEnders schedule will resume as normal from January 2nd. 

It comes after Michelle Collins - who plays Cindy Beale - confessed that viewers will 'hate' her alter-ego after the upcoming Christmas special.

Speaking to The Mirror about the upcoming episode, Michelle said: 'She's very unpredictable, you never know what she's going to be doing next thanks to Simon Ashdown.

'She's a joy to play. People love to hate her. 

'I don't know, after this maybe they'll just hate her and want her gone.'

The soap's official Instagram shared Christmas Day's trailer with fans in December.

They captioned the post: 'Time's up for Cindy… This Christmas on #EastEnders...'

In the sneak peek, George Knight raises a glass to the Knight and Beale family. 

But despite the festive cheer, Cindy and Junior look sheepish at the table in the Queen Vic.  

Someone around the table is gifted a recording and it is played out for everyone to hear.

Cindy says: 'I'm not like Ian, I need passion in my life.'

EastEnders airs on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer