Christmas soap storylines from Coronation Street, EastEnders & Emmerdale - including Tiffany Mitchell's death

Much like tucking into a Christmas dinner, or tugging at Christmas crackers - it is a festive tradition for Brits to indulge in TV soaps at Christmas. Over the years EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale have offered unforgettable Christmas storylines and given us our seasonal fix of melodrama.

From Emmerdale's catastrophic plane crash and Max and Stacey's Christmas-ruining secret in EastEnders to Sally's emotional confession on Coronation Street, Christmas soap storylines are memorable to say the least.

Here is a selection of the Christmas TV soap moments still etched into viewers brains.

Val Pollard's ghost

In an otherwise fairly drab Christmas special, one of Emmerdale's most beloved characters returned... well not literally. Playing the role of an entertaining 'ghost of Christmas past', Val Pollard paid Robert Sugden a visit in his hospital bed.

Dressed in a white fur coat, gloves and hat and an iconic vail, Pollard set out to show Robert - who was fighting for his life - the error of his ways and deliver him some hard truths.

The death of Tiffany Mitchell

Poor Tiffany, after surviving her time on the show as Grant Mitchell's partner for three years, it was Frank Butcher's car that would be her downfall. The explosive Christmas episode saw Grant back in the East End after he got bail for Tiffany’s attempted murder.

After arriving at the Queen Victoria, Grant planned to run off with his daughter Courtney before Tiffany could. Moments later, Tiffany chased Grant into the streets, only to be struck by Frank's oncoming car.

Tracey Barlow's feud with Karen McDonald boils over

In a twisted and borderline comical Christmas storyline, Tracey Barlow's long-running feud with Tracy Barlow over Steve McDonald came to a dramatic end. After a ruined dream wedding, and a shocking miscarriage, Karen took Steve's car and set fire to it, leading Tracey to think she'd also set fire to her daughter Amy who was believed to be on the back seat.

Outraged, Tracy took to the roof of Underworld to confront Karen, threatening to kill her with a crowbar. Luckily for Karen, Steve arrived and stopped Tracy without a moment to spare.

From Beckindale to Emmerdale

The plane crash is considered one of the most important storylines in Emmerdale's 50-year history, and even prompted producers to officially change the village name from Beckindale and start from scratch.

During the episode, an Eastern European airline which carried 250 passengers, was travelling to Canada when it burst into flames and collided with parts of the Yorkshire village. The dramatic crash had immeasurable effects on the soap with show favourites killed including Mark Hughes, Elizabeth Pollard, Archie Brooks and Leonard Kempinski.

Those who survived still suffered immensely and the aftermath of the storyline was still felt for series to come.

'He's Your Brother!'

In the later years of EastEnders, it was rare we got to see Danny Dyer in all his glory but 2014's Christmas episode allowed for exactly that. In a long-running storyline, Linda opened up to Mick regarding Dean sexually assaulting her and Mick went straight for Dean.

A few slaps and a destroyed Christmas dinner later, and Shirley drops the bombshell - "he's your brother!"

Max and Stacey affair exposé

For anyone that grew up in the 00s or were particularly hooked on soap storylines during this time, Christmas 2007 will forever be etched into our memories. Max and Stacey's complicated and drawn out affair came at the expense of Max's own son, Bradley, and one of the show's beloved characters, Tanya Branning.

The storyline reached fever-pitch come the Christmas episode, when Tanya and Max's eldest daughter reluctantly handed over a DVD capturing Bradley and Stacey's wedding day. As tensions grew and silence became deafening, the characters watched the video as Max and Stacey's affair started to unravel in front of their eyes. Yikes!

Sally's shocking reveal

On Christmas Day 2009, Kevin Webster was planning on telling his wife Sally, that he was leaving her after having an affair with Molly Dobbs. What Kevin didn't know, was that Sally had been diagnosed with breast cancer the week before Christmas and had decided to keep it a secret from her family.

When Sally broke down under the pressure of concealing such a secret, Kevin found out and felt the immense weight of his own actions and a whole nation who now had a new character to hate.