Peggy Mitchell killed herself on Tuesday's (17.05.16) episode of 'EastEnders' as Pat Butcher made a surprise appearance.

Credit: BBC

Credit: BBC

Throughout the episode terminally ill Peggy complained that someone nearby was smoking and she was later greeted by a vision of Pat, who died following a pancreatic cancer battle in 2012, smoking a cigarette on her stairs.

Peggy (Barbara Windsor) explained to the hallucination of her friend, played by Pam St Clement, that she had decided to end her life because of her own cancer diagnosis.

She asked: "Will they ever forgive me, the kids? Am I going to break their hearts? I just can't wait. I'm being eaten alive and it hurts. I don't want that to be me, to be that little old lady in the bed being looked after."

But she then made up her mind and said: "I'll go as I have lived, straight back, head held high, like a queen."

And Peggy asked the hallucination to stay with her as she took a fatal overdose in order to die on her own terms.

Apart from Pat, Peggy was alone as her son Grant (Ross Kemp) returned to Spain, after begging his mother to fight on, while his brother Phil (Steve McFadden) was in the Queen Vic pub, which the family used to run.

Following the credits, a shot of the empty pill bottle and letters she wrote to her children appeared to indicate that Peggy had gone through with her plan.

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