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"EastEnders star David Witts, who plays Joey Branning, has spoken about his first Christmas in the BBC soap. In an interview with The Guardian, Witts said that the death of Joey&amp;#039;s father Derek Branning will make for an &amp;quot;exciting&amp;quot; episode.  Witts said: &amp;quot;My on-screen dad is going to be killed on Christmas Day, and the story leaked in November. &amp;quot;We had paparazzi clambering over gravestones while we were filming the funeral.&amp;quot; He added that the Christmas Day episode is &amp;quot;meant to have a few surprises&amp;quot;, but that it can be difficult to prevent them from leaking. Witts also said that he expects to watch the special episode of the soap with his family on Christmas Day, calling it an &amp;quot;exciting&amp;quot; instalment.  He added: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s certainly more interesting than the Queen&amp;#039;s speech.&amp;quot; The actor, who joined the long-running soap this year, also said that his character is &amp;quot;nothing like&amp;quot; him and that people are confused when they talk to him in the street as he is &amp;quot;quite well-spoken&amp;quot;. Witts revealed that he had not seen the soap before joining, saying that he did not have a TV licence. &amp;quot;I always knew what EastEnders was about,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;But I didn&amp;#039;t watch it.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a446942/eastenders-david-witts-christmas-episode-will-be-exciting/>