Cindy Beale

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Not to be confused with Cindy Williams (EastEnders), the daughter of Cindy Beale.

Cindy Beale
EastEnders character
Portrayed byMichelle Collins
Duration1988–1990, 1992–1998, 2023–present
First appearanceEpisode 340
10 May 1988 (1988-05-10)
ClassificationPresent; regular
Introduced by
Spin-off
appearances
Abi Branning

Cindy Beale (also Williams) is a fictional character from the

antagonists from 13 October 1992 until her exit episode on 10 April 1998; the character supposedly died off-screen during childbirth on 5 November 1998. During her first stint on the show, Cindy embarked on a prolonged relationship with her would-be husband Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt
). Their marriage soon deteriorated, however, due to Cindy's selfish streak that shows the character becoming unfaithful to Ian and growing more concerned about her own needs than their own children. She lies and schemes to ensure that she gets what she wants.

It was reported on 19 May 2023 that Collins would be making a shock return to the show after 25 years away, thus "resurrecting" the character from the dead. She returned on 21 June 2023 for two episodes where it is revealed that Cindy never died but was placed under a

Anna (Molly Rainford
), before disappearing from their lives without explanation after inadvertently compromising the witness protection programme. She returned full-time on 22 August 2023. The decision to reintroduce Cindy was praised by critics.

Storylines

1988–1990

Cindy as she appeared in 1989

Cindy Beale first arrives at

public house, Cindy and Simon have sex and Cindy becomes pregnant. She suggests leaving Ian for Simon but he refuses, not wanting to be tied down or upset his family so Cindy marries Ian, letting him think he is the baby's father, giving birth to Steven
in December 1989. However, Simon decides he wants to be a father to his son and convinces Cindy to leave Ian, devastating him with the news that Steven is not his son and a feud erupts when he realises Simon is the father. Ian's behaviour grows erratic; after attempting suicide and failing, he chooses to ruin Simon's life instead so Simon decides to leave Walford with Cindy and Steven, leaving Ian heartbroken.

1992–1998

In 1992, Ian discovers that Simon has abandoned Cindy and Steven. Ian persuades her to return to Walford so he can help her bring Steven up. They reunite and Cindy gets pregnant in 1993.

John Valecue (Steve Weston), a hitman to kill Ian. Although she changes her mind, it is too late and Ian is shot, collapsing in a pool of blood in front of Cindy. The police suspect Cindy is involved and when David is called in for questioning, Cindy knows she will soon be arrested, so decides to flee with her children. Assisted by David and Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson
), she collects her sons, but is unable to get Lucy, and is forced to leave without her. David also stays behind, promising Cindy that he will try to get Lucy and join her later, but he never does.

Ian's private investigator,

Nick Holland
(Dominic Taylor). She takes Ian to court for custody of the children and wins. However, while collecting her children, Cindy is arrested for conspiracy to murder when Ian's associates visit Valecue in prison while he is serving a life sentence for murder, and persuade him to tell the police about Cindy's involvement. Ian wins full custody of the children and Cindy is charged and remanded while she is pregnant by Nick. After realising Cindy is guilty, Nick leaves her without any money for a lawyer.

In November 1998, Ian receives news that Cindy had died in childbirth. Her daughter survives and is named

Anna (Molly Rainford
). Whilst living in Marbella in 2014, Rose leaves George following a heated argument and isn't seen or heard from again.

2023–present

In June 2023, George, Gina and Anna arrive in Walford to run

Louie Beale (Freddie Harrington). Cindy's witness protection officer informs her that Jackie has died and she is free to return to her former life. Ian and Cindy argue when Ian suggests that they return to Walford and he later falls into cardiac arrest. Cindy later agrees to return to Walford, however, Ian sees a video via Peter that his son Bobby (Clay Milner Russell
) sent him of Cindy's ex-husband George, as the Queen Victoria pub landlord, and tells Cindy that they should remain in France.

Anna hires a private investigator to track Rose down. This causes friction between her and Gina, who takes cocaine to cope. He returns with an active phone number, which Anna calls but goes unanswered, leaving a voicemail and a text message. Peter discovers the voicemail thus finding out he has two sisters. Ian deletes the voicemail and text message, however, Peter returns to Walford to meet Gina and Anna. Cindy follows him to London and visits Kathy, who is furious to discover Cindy is alive and has reconciled with Ian and Peter. Ian arrives to bring Cindy home but is too late to stop her bumping into George, who is hosting Anna's 21st birthday party at the Vic. Cindy explains her true identity to George, explaining she compromised her life with him in witness protection by briefly returning to Walford in 2014 when her daughter Lucy was murdered. Believing the Fords killed Lucy, Cindy chose not to return to Marbella in fear of endangering George, Gina and Anna. Against George's wishes, Cindy is reunited with Gina and Anna, who are both wary of their long-absent mother. Unable to cope with Cindy's reappearance, Gina takes drugs on a night out and is rushed to hospital. Cindy is horrified to learn that Gina has a drug problem, and George blames her return for Gina's relapse. Contemplating their future in Walford, Cindy realises Ian knew that her daughters were in Walford but agrees to forgive his deceit if he helps her reconcile with them. Gina is hostile towards Cindy but Anna is amenable. Cindy and George maintain an antagonistic relationship, although she struggles with her feelings for him. She kisses George which is witnessed by Gina who then reveals it in front of Elaine and Ian. Ian plans to end their relationship but Cindy lies by claiming George initiated the kiss.

Cindy and Ian decide to open up a pie and mash shop, and convince Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) and his wife Suki (Balvinder Sopal) to invest in it. This doesn’t last long and Cindy soon finds a new partner, although she is unaware of their identity. The partner is revealed to be Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) and Cindy is shocked when Ian reveals Dean’s rape crimes, including that he had raped Linda. After backlash from residents, Cindy and Ian attempt to end their partnership with Dean, but he refuses. Whilst on a business trip, Peter and Bobby almost perish in Kathy’s Cafe, from a fire started by Kathy’s husband Tom "Rocky" Cotton (Brian Conley) for insurance money. Peter is critically injured and Cindy blames Bobby for Peter’s condition as Peter had gone into the cafe to save him. She also reports Kathy to the police when she reveals that she had ignored issues with the electric, causing Ian to dump her. They reconcile and later discover that Rocky was behind the fire and let Kathy take the blame. Cindy is furious when she discovers that Gina is seeing Dean, and she offers him £60,000 to sell his shares of Beale's Eels to her and Ian and to leave Walford. Dean rejects Cindy's offer and continues dating Gina until she dumps him. After an argument with George, in which he slates Cindy for abandoning Cindy Jr, Cindy leaves Walford to see Cindy Jr in Germany. Cindy returns and reveals that Cindy Jr has rejected her.

Creation and development

Michelle Collins portrays Cindy

Cindy was introduced in 1988 in a minor role as a love-interest for Simon Wicks (Nick Berry). She was due to appear in only eleven episodes but the character evolved.[2] Writer Colin Brake has suggested that Cindy was "the most important character for the future" to be introduced in 1988, despite her low-key entrance.[3]

Actress Michelle Collins was asked to audition for the part by the soap's co-creator, Julia Smith, who saw her perform on stage.[4] Collins had previously auditioned for the role of original character Mary Smith, but at the time Julia Smith had decided they did not want that character to be from London, so that role went to Linda Davidson.[5] Three years on, Collins won the role of Cindy. She has commented, "Cindy arrived for 11 episodes, working on a hat stall and as a tease for Wicksy, but evolved into a much juicier character. Julia Smith said it would change my life. I didn't believe her - how wrong I was."[4]

In 2015, former executive producer Matthew Robinson explained in a blog post why he had Cindy killed off, saying that keeping her alive "might have benefited the show" but it would have required Collins to commit to three days of filming to depict the birth of Cindy's baby and the outcome of her trial, because "no proper producer could allow off-screen portrayal of massive soap events like those". However, Collins never committed to the episodes and Robinson felt he had no choice but to kill the character off-screen.[6]

Reintroduction

On 19 May 2023, it was reported that Collins would be returning to the show after 25 years in a storyline accommodating the return of Ian, thus resurrecting the character from the dead.[7]

Reception

In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Cindy 20th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling her "scheming", "Selfish" and a "Homewrecker" who "worked her way through most of Walford's men in her 10-year stint, but settled for boring Ian".[8]

After her 2023 return, The Daily Telegraph described the scenes as a "camp, compelling Bank Holiday treat". They gave the episodes a review of four stars out of a possible five and joked: "Who needs Barbie when we've got Cindy?" and billed her as a "peroxide piranha". They opined that her return to EastEnders was what the show needed to regain buzz amidst live ratings dropping in 2023.[9] Radio Times praised executive producer Chris Clenshaw's decision to reintroduce her and said that her "epic" return "more than lived up to expectations".[10] Likewise, Digital Spy praised all aspects of Cindy's return as they felt that despite the extravagant nature of the storyline, EastEnders had not gone overboard by bringing her back.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ Knight, Lewis (21 June 2023). "EastEnders airs dramatic return for schemer Cindy Beale as Rose Knight". Radio Times. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Michelle can't hold back the years; Ex-EastEnders stars turns 40... but she is in no mood to celebrate". Evening Times. 25 October 2003.
  3. ISBN 978-0-563-37057-4
    .
  4. ^ a b "Michelle Collins avoids 'Cindy look'". Digital spy. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  5. ^ "Cindy May Be Long Dead, But Michelle Collins Remembers her NY Fans". Walford gazette. Archived from the original on 11 April 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  6. ^ Robinson, Matthew (5 March 2015). "3-2-1 She's dead!". Walford Web. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  7. ^ "EastEnders spoilers: Cindy Beale returns from the dead in massive shocking twist". Metro. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  8. ^ Sara Wallis; Ian Hyland (12 June 2020). "100 Best EastEnders characters ever". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  9. ^ Hogan, Michael (28 August 2023). "Cindy Beale's return to EastEnders was a camp, compelling Bank Holiday treat". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  10. ^ Knight, Lewis (31 August 2023). "EastEnders' epic Cindy Beale return week was a true gift from the soap gods". Radio Times. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  11. ^ Dainty, Sophie (31 August 2023). "7 lessons EastEnders can learn from Cindy Beale's return episodes". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 September 2023.

External links

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