EastEnders' Michelle Collins fears fans want her ‘dead and gone’ after Christmas cliffhanger
Cindy Beale was the victim of a brutal attack on Christmas Day after being hit over the head with a shovel and left for dead! Cindy, played by Michelle Collins, had been at the centre of the episode with her and Junior Knight’s (Micah Balfour) affair being revealed in spectacular fashion at the Queen Vic.
Cindy’s liaison was outed by Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa), who played a recording of Cindy’s confession for all to hear. There were plenty of disappointed men in the room, including Cindy’s fiancé Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), as well as Junior’s dad, and Cindy’s ex-husband, George Knight (Colin Salmon). After that, Cindy launched a vicious attack on her family and friends which left her out in the cold and brutally attacked in Albert Square - actress Michelle fears fans will hope her iconic character is dead.
Michelle confessed: “After this, I don’t know if people will love to hate her anymore, they might just hate her and want her dead and gone. I felt exhausted after watching the episode and if you look, I didn’t even get to eat any turkey, not a sprout, nothing!”
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Cindy’s affair reveal mirrored that of 'Sharongate' in 1994, with the BBC bosses throwing in 'classic' moments as the show approaches it's 40th anniversary. Michelle believes Cindy's meltdown was also a breakthrough moment for her character. She explained: “It’s probably the first time that Cindy’s been honest. You probably know more about Cindy in those episodes than you ever did. She opens up more because she's so desperate. This is a woman on the edge, and actually what actor doesn't want to play that kind of role?
“When I came back it was great, Ian took Cindy back and I was very thankful and everything but it was like, ‘where is Cindy? We want the old Cindy back’. And I remember Chris [Clenshaw, the producer] last year at the Christmas party going ‘don’t worry Michelle, bad Cindy’s going to come back’”.
There’s a plethora of suspects who could have attacked Cindy from Ian, to George, Junior, Lauren, Kojo, Anna, Gina, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) and Peter Beale (Tom Law) who were all in the Queen Vic to see Cindy’s downfall, and were all met with a scathing put down by Cindy too.
Will Cindy pull through? Or could this be the end of legendary Cindy Beale just one year after her iconic return?
