EastEnders’ fans are filled with questions after tuning into last night’s action-packed flashforward episode. The main question on many fans’ lips, however, is who is the mysterious man stood amongst the Brannings after Max’s arrest.

Last night’s episode jumped forward an entire year, and saw Max Branning wake up next to an unknown pregnant woman before getting ready to marry another woman – his list of potential brides have been shortened to Cindy Beale, Linda Carter, Chelsea Fox or Denise Fox.

However, his wedding prep was cut short as Max spotted armed police getting ready to pounce on his flat – as he appears to have taken up residence on the Square next to Linda Carter and Elaine Peacock’s ’boutique hotel’ Peacock Palace.

As the cops swarmed Max’s pad, while the mystery pregnant woman was taking a shower, Max managed to escape through a window and rushed to daughter Lauren’s house for help hiding out. However, tensions between the father and daughter seem as high as they usually are as she reluctantly appears to help him before letting a swarm of police in to arrest Max.

The huge police presence draws a lot of attention on Albert Square – with one mysterious stranger in particular catching the attention of viewers and sparking a flurry of questions. The mysterious man is seen stood alongside Max’s son Oscar on Albert Square wearing a khaki green jacket and a black shirt underneath.

The man approaches the Brannings slowly, with his hands in his pockets, as Max is escorted into a police car. He then stands behind Oscar and Ian Beale as they speak to Lauren, Peter Beale and Jack Branning gather to talk about what has just happened. The anonymous man then asks the group: “What’s happened, though? What’s he done?,” appearing to show he has a close relation to the family.

As the scenes unfolded in last night’s episode, fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to question who he was. One wrote: “Hello there! Identify yourself please #EastEnders” alongside an image of Oscar stood alongside the mystery man. Another asked: “@bbceastenders my questions about #EastEnders tonight…who was “man” behind Oscar? & Was Nicolas leg in plaster? If so, they mentioned saving Jimmy & Ethan’s life, was she saved too?”.

A third added: “Who the f**k is he? Other than ABSOLUTELY the man Lauren is having an affair with…” The credits didn’t give any clues away either as the mystery new character was only referred to as ‘man’ as the credits rolled, however the soap revealed the actor playing this new stranger was Stephen Aaron-Sipple.

The identity of the stranger was even quizzed by journalists in a Q&A session in the lead-up to the epic episode. And executive producer Ben Wadey was keen to remain as cryptic as possible, but did give a huge clue when asked about the stranger.

When asked in the Q&A who the mystery man is hanging around the Brannings in the flash-forward episode, Ben Wadey said: “You will find out who he is.”