EastEnders fans are furiously angry over reports that Cindy Beale is returning from the dead. Actress Michelle Collins is said to be reprising her role after 25 years.
According to The Sun, Michelle will be returning with on-screen ex-husband Ian more than a quarter of a century after she died off-screen in prison. Adam Woodyatt will return after more than two years away.
They have already begun filming. A source told the newspaper: “This has been done so secretively but it’s going to be an absolute bombshell — an unbelievable twist.
“Ian and Cindy are one of the most memorable couples in soap history. But Cindy has been dead for 25 years — and nobody will see this coming. The biggest surprise is that Michelle has so often said there’s no chance she’d come back.”
But while the news has rocked fans – the reaction has been almost overwhelmingly negative. Fans appear to be furious at the return.
EastEnders lines up bombshell return for Cindy Beale
Writing on a fan forum, one said: “This doesn’t sound good like at all. It sounds bad and desperate and unnecessary. Cindy’s return would have worked once, but not now. We are talking about being years too late here. If it is what we are being told then this is a BIG mark against Clenshaw is an almost perfect time as EP.”
A second said: “Cindy faked her death, ditched her newborn, didn’t blink when two of her other children died, one of them by Ian’s son’s hand, and has now decided to shack up with Ian again afterwards? It’s just impossible to consider.”
A third said: “There’s no way I’m believing, after all the work and improvement that’s been done in the past year, that they will ruin it by doing something so unnecessary like this! I do believe Ian will return soon but there’s no way Cindy is.”
Another said: “I can’t get my head around this. There has to be more to it? I’m thrilled that Ian is returning, but it has been overshadowed by this needles, cheap twist.
Read more: Who is leaving EastEnders this year?
“It’s also annoying that the show is getting so much praise at the moment with the Lola storyline and could potentially go from that to being a laughing stock in the space of a couple of weeks/months with this news.”
What do you think of Cindy Beale’s return from the dead?
EastEnders usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on BBC One.
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