EastEnders star Gillian Taylforth, who plays Kathy Beale (soon to be Cotton...hopefully) has revealed that explosive scenes are on the way for her character and former daughter-in-law Cindy Beale when the latter returns to Walford later this year.
Shock scenes on the soap in June revealed that Cindy — who had supposedly ‘died’ in prison in 1998 — was alive and well and living with ex-husband Ian and their son Peter in France.
The former market trader, it transpired — who was banged up for conspiring to kill Ian — had been released from prison after giving the cops incriminating information about her inmate, Jackie Ford.
Under a witness protection scheme, she had faked her death and assumed a new identity, Rose Knight (yep, she's George Knight’s AWOL wife) to protect herself from Jackie’s criminal family. However, Jackie’s death has now left Cindy free to resume her old life.
Speaking about what viewers can expect when Kathy comes face-to-face with her former nemesis, Gillian says that her character will have no sympathy for Cindy — despite having faked her own death in the past — and that she and actress Michelle Collins have already filmed some heated scenes.
“There were some ‘lovely’ words said, believe me!" laughs the star. “It reminds me of those Dynasty days with Alexis Colby and Krystle Carrington. All we needed was a swimming pool and we’d have been in it!
“Cindy’s trying to explain to Kathy the reason she did it [faked her death], and Kathy’s not having any of it. Kathy’s just, ‘No, get out, go away, leave my son with me and you go off and do what you’ve got to do.’
“Cindy’s never been trustworthy, that’s what Kathy knows about her. She’s always lied about things, about who the fathers of her children were, about Ian and everything else.
“I don’t think there’s ever going to be any love lost between them. Kathy might have a bit of empathy for Cindy’s girls and the fact Cindy wants to get back to being a mother to them, but I don’t think she trusts her at all.
“When someone’s tried to have your son killed, you can’t really see them in a good light!”
Cindy first arrived in Walford way back in 1988, and quickly established herself as a troublesome schemer, with a penchant for ‘playing away.’
She famously lied about the paternity of her first child, the now late Steven Beale, claiming he was Ian’s son when he was actually the product of her affair with his womanising step-brother, Simon Wicks.
In addition to Steven and twins Peter and Lucy (who was murdered by Bobby Beale in 2014), Cindy is also the mum of Cindy Jnr, whose father is a man called Nick Holland, whom Cindy met in Italy whilst on the run.
EastEnders boss Chris Clenshaw has revealed that fans are set to see a “softer” version of Cindy on her return, but the “old’ Cindy is still lurking underneath.
"She’s a little softer through everything that has gone on — 25 years of living a different identity and living a lie to her other family,” he says.
"What comes quite apparent later in the year when she returns to Walford is it doesn’t take long before we see flashes of the old Cindy Beale, and she still has it.
"There is some absolute dynamite between Cindy and Kathy. It doesn’t take long and it’s still the same Cindy at the core — she’s just been on one hell of a journey since we last saw her."
EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now.
