The truth as to what happened to Rose Knight was finally revealed in Thursday’s, June 21 episode of EastEnders. Throughout the whole week, the BBC soap opera has teased that a resolution to the mystery was on its way by posting teasers on social media.
As speculated, Rose was revealed to actually be fan favourite character Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), who returns to the show for the first time in 25 years. She initially appeared on EastEnders between 1988-1998 and was incredibly popular with viewers.
Only a few months after Cindy left Albert Square, viewers were shocked to learn that writers had decided to prevent any chance of her returning. Are you excited to see Cindy back? Let us know in the comments.
Read more: EastEnders: All the clues we know so far from the Christmas flash-forward death mystery
But how was Cindy written out of EastEnders in the first place? Here’s everything you need to know ahead of her full-time return to the show. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
What happened to Cindy Beale?
During her original EastEnders stint, Cindy was married to Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) and the pair’s marriage was rocky to say the least. Cindy had multiple affairs - firstly with a lifeguard named Matt (Toby Walton) and then with Ian’s half-brother, David Wicks (Michael French). After suspecting Cindy of an affair, Ian hired a private investigator to prove it and he did. Afterwards, Ian swore to fight Cindy for custody of their children.
David ultimately abandoned Cindy and she decided to take drastic action by hiring a hitman named John Valecue to kill Ian. Despite attempting to call off the hit, Cindy was too late and Ian was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in front of her.
Ian survived but the police suspected that Cindy was responsible, which led to her trying to flee the country in 1996. After David and her friend Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson) failed to retrieve her daughter Lucy, a distraught Cindy was forced to flee the country with only Steven and Peter.
In 1997 Ian’s private investigator tracked Cindy down to Italy and Ian headed there with his step-father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and his brother Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) to retrieve his children. Once there, Ian tricked Cindy into the idea of reconciliation so she could be reunited with Lucy. As Cindy played along, she began to grow suspicious and called the police. Cindy was too late, though, as Phil and Grant abducted Steven and Peter and soon returned to the UK with Ian, leaving Cindy alone.
Later in the year, Cindy returned to Walford with her boyfriend Nick Holland and fought Ian for custody of the children. She won the custody battle but when she arrived to take the children away, Cindy was arrested for conspiracy to murder. In the aftermath, Ian won custody of the children and Cindy was charged and held on remand while she was pregnant with Nick’s daughter.
Realising that Cindy tried to have Ian killed, Nick abandoned her and their unborn child. November 1998 saw Pat Butcher (Pam St. Clement) inform Ian that Cindy went into labour and gave birth to a daughter but died from the resulting complications.
After attending Cindy’s funeral, Ian met her baby daughter who he named Cindy in memory of her. The child later went to live with Cindy’s sister, Gina Williams (Nicola Cowper).
