EastEnders star Michelle Collins - 'Women hate Cindy, but want to be her'
She hasn’t set foot in Walford since 1998, so it’s no wonder Michelle Collins felt apprehensive at being back on the set of EastEnders.The 61-year-old actress has returned to the soap 25 years after her supposed death as Cindy Beale.
But it seems that Cindy has been hiding in witness protection. And on leaving France to follow her son, Peter Beale [Thomas Law], she finds herself back on her old stamping ground. “Cindy was meeting people for the first time and so was I, because I hadn’t seen some of them for a long time,” says Michelle. “The whole week of episodes is all one day when Cindy arrives.” “It’s quite clever how it’s written because it’s like an intro to all the characters she meets along the way.The first person Cindy meets is Kathy [Beale] and you can probably imagine what that’s going to be like. “I always thought that Gilly [Taylforth, who plays Kathy] looked far too young to be my Mother-in-law.” The revelation that Cindy was still alive and kicking came in June.
She had somehow reunited with ex-husband Ian Beale and their son, Peter. Meanwhile, her other ex, George Knight, and the two daughters she had while living under the name of Rose Knight, have moved into the Vic.
So when Peter heads home to meet his half-sisters Cindy isn’t far behind and soon discovers her other family is living in her old local. “She didn’t know George was here, or the girls, so that’s a real shocker,” she says. “I was going through all of the emotions of excitement and terror as Cindy was. “As soon as I met Adam [Woodyatt] in the France scenes I realised it’s a bit like riding a bike, going back in the show.
