Cindy Beale
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| EastEnders character | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Cindy Beale | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Michelle Collins | |||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1988–1990, 1992–1996, 1997–1998 |
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| First appearance | 10 May 1988 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 10 April 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 10 May 1968 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 5 November 1998 (aged 30) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Deceased | |||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Businesswoman | |||||||||||||||||||
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Cindy Beale (née Williams) was a fictional character in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was played by Michelle Collins.
Cindy always had an eye for the lotharios of Walford and despite trying to settle down several times with the more reliable Ian Beale, she just couldn't seem to stay faithful to him. She had a selfish streak, often thinking of her own needs above her husbands and children's. She often lied and schemed, particularly where men were concerned.
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[edit] Cindy's beginning
Cindy arrived in Albert Square in May 1988 and she proved popular with the local lads straight away. Initially she worked on her mother's market stall selling hats, but later she worked as a barmaid for Joanne Francis at Strokes wine bar. Cindy became involved with barman Simon Wicks, who was also seeing Donna Ludlow (as well as several other women) at the time and she and Cindy would regularly fight for Simon's attentions. However Cindy soon grew tired of Simon's womanising, and although it became obvious that Simon was falling for her, she started to turn her attentions to his stepbrother Ian Beale, who was becoming quite a successful entrepreneur.
Initially her flirting with Ian was only to make Simon jealous, but Cindy and Ian soon began a relationship and by February 1989 they were engaged. Meanwhile, Simon had retaliated by embarking on a relationship with his old girlfriend, Sharon Watts. Despite this, Cindy and Simon couldn't keep their hands off each other and it wasn't long before the two embarked on an affair behind their partner's backs, which resulted in Cindy becoming pregnant with Simon's child. Cindy was prepared to leave Ian for Simon, but Simon didn't want to get tied down or upset his family, so he finished their affair and told Cindy he wanted nothing more to do with her or the baby. With nowhere left to turn Cindy decided to go through with her wedding to Ian and pretend that Simon's baby was actually his. She gave birth to Steven Beale in December 1989 and managed to keep his paternity a secret from Ian and the rest of the Walford for a while.
However, she grew tired of Ian, whom she had never really loved, and she began to feel guilty for deceiving him. Meanwhile Simon, who was still involved with Sharon, had also got itchy feet and he started to develop a paternal instinct for his son. It wasn't long before Cindy had been persuaded to give their relationship another go.
While Ian was busy trying to get his catering business up and running in order to provide for his wife and child, Cindy dropped the bombshell that Steven was not really his but Simon's. Ian wouldn't believe that Steven wasn't his however, and much fighting ensued when she moved out of their marital home and in with Simon. Ian's behaviour became more and more erratic. After attempting to take his own life, he turned his attention to ruining Simon's. Desperate to escape him, Cindy and Simon made plans to flee Walford with their son. The two departed in December 1990 and Ian was subsequently left a broken man.
[edit] Cindy's return
In 1992 however, news reached Ian that Simon had abandoned Cindy and Steven, leaving Cindy to bring up her son in poverty. Ian tracked Cindy down to a council flat and persuaded her to come back to Walford so they could bring up Steven together. Cindy was hesitant at first, but she accepted his offer, much to the anger of Ian's mother Kathy, who had never really taken to Cindy in the first place. Despite hostility from all his family, it wasn't long before Cindy had settled back in to life with Ian, who was now quite a wealthy businessman. Cindy was disliked by almost every female on the square, particularly Sharon, who still resented her for stealing Simon from her, and Hattie Tavernier, who was regularly the subject of Cindy's jealousy regarding Ian. She did manage to make one friend however, fellow parent Gita Kapoor, who was privvy to all Cindy's sordid secrets, and was used as a foil whenever Cindy wanted to escape Ian.
Cindy fell pregnant again in 1993, this time to Ian, and both she and Ian were shocked to discover that she was expecting twins. Richard Cole took a shine to Cindy, but after she shunned his advances he spread a malicious rumour that he was the father of her unborn children. Knowing Cindy's history, everyone was quick to believe Richard and Ian nearly split with Cindy as a result. The truth finally came out, however, and Lucy and Peter (who was named after Ian's late father Pete) were born in December 1993.
Married life and motherhood soon began to take its toll on Cindy and it wasn't long before she was up to her old tricks, playing away behind Ian's back, firstly with Matt the lifeguard in 1994, and secondly with her ex-lover's brother, David Wicks, in 1995. Their affair was long and drawn out lasting for a whole year. Cindy would sneak away from Ian to be with David at any given opportunity, often under the pretence that she was seeing Gita. Cindy's feelings for David soon began to grow and as this happened she became less and less tolerant of Ian. Ian eventually began to suspect Cindy was up to no good and this prompted him to hire a private investigator who filmed Cindy and David in a 'steamy clinch' and played it back to a furious Ian, who vowed to take Cindy to court to gain custody of all their children.
With David also looking like he might cool their affair, Cindy decided to take drastic action and in October 1996 she hired a hitman to rid herself of Ian once and for all. Just at the last minute she had a change of heart and decided she wanted to sort things out amicably, but it was too late however, and Ian was shot by an armed man in a passing car, and collapsed in a pool of blood right in front of Cindy. Riddled with guilt Cindy found it impossible to look innocent in front of the police, who clearly suspected that she had something to do with the attempted murder. When David was called in for questioning, Cindy knew it was only a matter of time before she would be arrested, so she decided to take her children and flee Walford for a second time. With the help of David and Barry Evans, she managed to snatch her sons (Steven and Peter) from their schools. However Lucy, who had been ill that day, was taken home from school early (unbeknown to Cindy), and so she was forced to leave the country without her daughter. David also opted to stay behind, promising Cindy that he would try to get Lucy and join her later, although he never did.
[edit] Ian's revenge
After recovering from the shooting and realising Cindy's involvement, Ian decided to hire a private investigator named Ros Thorne to track Cindy down so he could reclaim his children. Ros found Cindy living in Italy in 1997 and the pair set off after her, with Ian's stepfather, Phil Mitchell, and his brother Grant in tow. Upon finding Cindy working in a sleazy club as a waitress, Ian confronted her and in order to occupy her whilst Phil and Grant abducted her children, he pretended that he still loved her and was willing to forgive her. Cindy wanted her daughter back more than anything so she was willing to listen to Ian's pleas. The plan seemed to be working, but Cindy suddenly grew suspicious and she ended up contacting the police. It was too late however, and despite a mad police chase Ian was successful in bringing his two sons back to Walford.
Cindy wasn't willing to give her children up so easily though and that same year she too came back to Walford with her new boyfriend Nick Holland. She soon took Ian to court for sole custody of all her children. A long court battle ensued and Cindy was the eventual winner, forcing Ian to hand over his beloved children to her. However moments after the verdict Cindy was arrested for the attempted murder of Ian, who had traced the hitman to a prison in Wandsworth and persuaded him to admit that Cindy was his client. Cindy was taken into custody and charged. At this time Cindy was pregnant yet again with her fourth child (this time to boyfriend Nick). However, after seeing Cindy's true colours Nick decided he wanted nothing more to do with her and he left her in prison to rot, without any money for a brief to get her off. This was the last time Cindy was seen in Albert Square, however it was subsequently revealed that she died in prison in November 1998 of a blood clot to the lung, whilst giving birth to her fourth child. Cindy's baby survived the turbulent birth, and Ian was given temporary custody of her after her mother's death. He named her Cindy in her mother's honour and eventually gave her to Cindy's mother and sister, who lived in Cornwall.
[edit] Beyond the grave?
Nearly nine years after her death, in September 2007, Cindy's daughter Lucy started claiming that she was in contact with Cindy over the internet and was planning to meet up with her. After hearing the news from Peter, Ian went to Lucy's supposed meeting place and Ian told her that Cindy was definitely dead. Ian went onto Lucy's blog and discovered the messages from someone calling themselves 'Cindy Beale' and he attempted to email the sender himself but the reply was "Nice try". Ian then began to think he could smell Cindy's perfume in the house, and found writing on a mirror saying "Ian I'm back", but after arriving back with Jane to show her, the writing was gone. After looking through some old photos Ian came to the conclusion Cindy's sister Gina was behind the haunting. A bottle of Cindy's old perfume appeared on the doorstep and another message came through online saying "Can you smell me now?". Ian was sent a photo of Cindy looking older than when she had died, holding a newspaper showing a headline about the attack on Patrick Trueman that happened in 2007. While investigating the possible identity of the person pretending to be Cindy, Ian called back a number from which he had received a text message apparently from Cindy. Hearing a phone ringing in the house, he traced the sound to a phone in his current wife Jane's wardrobe. He also discovered a book about insomnia on his pillow, and a receipt in Jane's pocket for a coffin that was delivered. Ian began to suspect Jane was posing as Cindy due to an obsession and was responsible for all the recent events including delivery of flowers, animal hearts and the coffin. However, when confronting Jane, her reaction convinced him that she was not responsible. It was later revealed that it was Cindy's son Steven.
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