Exclusive: EastEnders star Michelle Collins taken by surprise when she learned show was filming her funeral

When Michelle Collins quit EastEnders back in 1998, Cindy Beale was slammed in prison for trying to have Ian bumped off and the door was left firmly open for a potential return.

So it came as a huge surprise to the actress when she got a phone call from a co-star revealing that Cindy’s chances of a comeback had dramatically diminished. “It was kind of strange how I got told. I’d left, I’d had my daughter, and I’d already agreed that I would go back for six months,” she recalls now, on the eve of the soap’s 40th anniversary next week. “There was a new producer, and it just didn’t feel right. I was 35, I was very ambitious. I suppose I felt I’d outgrown it a bit, so I decided not to renew my contract.”

Her next job was filming abroad for the holiday reps drama Sunburn. “Barbara Windsor always used to ring me and see how I was getting on – we were quite close at that time. She called and said they’d just been to my funeral that day. And I was like, ‘What?’ They’d filmed this funeral – I didn’t even know she’d d.i.e.d.”

All these years later, Michelle is not bitter about the decision for Cindy to perish in childbirth, behind bars, made by the producer at the time, Matthew Robinson. “They just thought it was kind of easier, I suppose, to k.i.l.l me off screen, in prison. In a way, it’s probably good that they did, because I couldn’t have come back at all if they’d had Cindy d.i.e on screen. I just kind of thought, ‘Right. Now, I just can’t go back.’”

And that’s what everyone thought – until a couple of years ago when it emerged Cindy was to become the latest of many Albert Square favourites, including Dirty Den and Cindy’s mother-in-law Kathy Beale, to return from the d.e.a.d.

That news, when it came in a phone call, was an even bigger surprise than the one 25 years earlier from Babs. “It was crazy,” she laughs. “I was playing Miss Scarlett in Cluedo at the time, up and down the country, my first role after Covid, working very hard. And when I got the call I had to stop my car on the motorway and pull to the side. I was so shocked.”

Once it sunk in, she and her agent agreed it could just work. “I did say, ‘The only way this could ever happen was if she was in some sort of witness protection,’ she recalls. “When we read it, we were like, ‘Wow. This is great. This storyline, if they can pull this off, is fantastic’.”

And so it came to pass that Cindy, one of the soap’s best-loved bitches, lived to see another day in Walford. “It was hard, because I couldn’t tell anybody. I mean, I did tell my husband. But it took a year from the beginning until I started with the France episodes. – filmed down the road in Radlett!”

In the plot Cindy was living abroad under her new identity of Rose Knight, was married to dishy George, played by Colin Salmon, and had a second family – daughters Gina and Anna – none of whom had any idea about her shady past. Of course, she needed to reunite with ex-husband Ian for her return to Walford, and that’s what happened. Only when she got there she found her other ex George had just taken over the Queen Vic. What are the chances?

Michelle says Adam Woodyatt, now the soap’s longest serving character as Ian Beale, was instrumental in Cindy being brought back to life. “We always kept in contact and Adam really championed me coming back. I think he felt for his character, it would be really great if she did. I mean, obviously, it was the producer’s decision, but I think Adam was kind of secretly behind it.”

She says that there’s pretty much nothing that Cindy could do that Ian won’t forgive her for in the end. “They’re like George & Mildred, or coffee and cream. They go together. Ian’s her safety net, isn’t he? They’re kind of addicted to each other, and they enable each other. It’s kind of odd. Viewers love to hate Ian. And some of them love to hate Cindy as well, but love and hate are very close.”

Cindy and Ian’s wedding in 1989 flanked by Michelle (Susan Tully) Wicksy (Simon Berry) and Kathy (GillianTaylforth) ( Image: BBC)

Cindy and Ian Beale before she tried to have him bumped off after winning custody of their children ( Image: PA)

She has no regrets about going back to EastEnders after many years as a jobbing actress doing independent films, lots of theatre and a three-year stint behind the bar in Coronation Street. “It could have backfired, but I’m always somebody that goes with their gut feeling,” she says. “I think when you get to a certain age, and I was 60 when this happened, it was a brilliant opportunity for me as an actor. Because there are not as many parts for actresses of a certain age, as we know.”

She says that it’s a different world from the two-episodes-a- week she left behind in 1998, but she is loving it. “It is kind of relentless. And when you’ve got a big story, and I’ve had a lot, it really does kind of take over your life. It’s very full-on. But I really enjoy what I do. And I feel that I’ve just been given this great gift second time round of playing Cindy.

“When I left, I was in my 30s, I wanted to spread my wings. I was really ambitious. Whereas now I’m back, I’m much more content to be here. I feel much more solid.”

Her storylines have been no less extreme than first time around – initially caught in a love triangle with her two exes, she then embarked on an affair with George’s son Junior, despite their 20-year age gap.

Cindy returned to Walford with Ian after 25 years in a witness protection scheme but it wasn’t long before she was back to her old cheating ways ( Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)

The plot is actually a case of art-imitating-life because two years ago Michelle, 62, married Mike Davidson, 40. She has told how he popped the question to make her feel safe following the death of her mother. “I just think, ‘Why can’t we have a strong woman of a certain age on TV having an affair with this younger guy?’” she laughs now. “Yes, women of a certain age do want to have a good time as well.”

Michelle reckons that Cindy just can’t help herself, although she does believe she’s mellowed a bit with age. “I think Cindy is a complete and utter survivor. The audience love her. They are really invested in her. She is completely dysfunctional, she’s also very complex. I would say she probably should have gone into therapy a long time ago.”

She’d love for Cindy to end up amid the ranks of the show’s best battleaxes alongside Barbara’s Peggy, Pam St Clements’ Pat and Anita Dobson’s Angie. “In soaps it’s the women, those matriarchal figures, who are always at the forefront. Whether you like them or not, they are very strong characters. And I think Cindy is kind of one of those, really.”

The main similarity between herself and her character is that they are more heart than head when it comes to decision-making. “She just throws herself into situations. She’s over emotional about things. And she loves hard,” Michelle says. “I’m quite an emotional person. To me, she’s not an out-and-out villain – she’s too vulnerable. I hope people believe her vulnerabilities, but I suppose they’re never quite sure whether to believe her or not. She’s certainly never boring.”

Cindy and Ian with their twins, Lucy and Peter, soon after they were born and life was good ( Image: BBC)

Next week, as part of the BBC1 soap’s huge 40th anniversary celebrations, viewers will get to vote over whether Denise ends up with ex-husband Jack Branning or new lover Ravi Gulati in a live, interactive episode. They will also finally find out who tried to k.i.l.l Cindy at Christmas by bouncing a spade off her head. “People are coming up to me on the street all the time and they say ‘Who did it? Who’s the Walford Whacker?’ I love that.

“Whoever it is they’re all close to Cindy and it’s been driving her a bit insane trying to work out who wants to k.i.l.l her. I’m excited it’s all going to come out for the 40th.”

Having originally tried and failed for the role of Mary the punk, the 25-year-old Michelle nearly lost her chance of playing Cindy in 1988 after lying to the soap’s formidable co-creator Julia Smith about her ability to ride a motorbike. “In the end Julia said ‘That’s fine. Don’t ever lie to me again.’ And I didn’t, of course.”

Her career until that point had seen her play several tearaways. “I played characters on the edge. I suppose I was a bit kind of different. I wasn’t leading woman material, but I had an edge to me.”

She thinks the soap’s ongoing popularity, especially with younger viewers, is down to the edgy issues it has always tackled. “EastEnders had the first gay kiss with Colin, we had Mark Fowler being a straight man who was HIV positive and Kathy’s rape, Arthur’s mental health issues and more recently Anna’s drink-spiking and male depression with Phil. These are issues that affect real people and I think that’s why it’s so popular, because it’s less melodrama and more about rawness, and grit.”

So could it last another 40 years? “Well, I won’t be in it then, that’s for sure,” she guffaws. “But listen, why not? People want escapism but they also want to watch TV with characters they can relate to, and EastEnders has someone for everyone. It’s a load of good people doing really bad things.”

– All episodes of EastEnders air on BBC1/iPlayer at 7.30pm next week, with an hour-long special on Wednesday, and a live episode on Thursday