Cindy Beale (also Williams) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Collins.

She first appeared 10 May 1988 and originally departed on 27 December 1990, before returning as one of the show's central antagonists from 13 October 1992 until her exit episode on 10 April 1998; the character supposedly died off-screen during childbirth in prison on 5 November 1998.

During her first stint on the show, Cindy embarked on a prolonged relationship with her would-be husband Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt).

Their marriage soon deteriorated, however, due to Cindy's selfish streak that shows the character becoming unfaithful to Ian and growing more concerned about her own needs than their own children.

She had relocated to Spain under the assumed name of Rose Sawyer, then she married George Knight (Colin Salmon) and gave birth to two more daughters, Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna Knight (Molly Rainford), before disappearing from their lives without explanation after inadvertently compromising the witness protection programme.

Since her return, her storylines have included bonding with her children, feuding with Ian's mother Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), confronting Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell) over Lucy Beale's death, setting up "Beale's Eels" with Ian and Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo), attempting to reconcile with George, having an affair with George's son Junior Knight (Micah Balfour) after George rejects her, threatening George's brother Kojo Asare (Dayo Koleosho) and Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) when they nearly expose the affair, and being left unconscious by an unknown attacker on Christmas Day 2024 when Lauren exposes the affair, a storyline which will tie into the show's 40th anniversary.

Cindy Williams first arrives at Albert Square in May 1988, wherein she begins working on her mother's market stall selling hats.

However, Cindy grows tired of Simon's womanising, and despite his feelings for her, she moves on to Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), who is becoming a successful entrepreneur.

David loses interest in Cindy so she takes drastic action and in October 1996, she hires John Valecue (Steve Weston), a hitman to kill Ian.

Assisted by David and Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson), she collects her sons, but is unable to get Lucy, and is forced to leave without her.

In June 2023, George, Gina and Anna arrive in Walford to run The Queen Vic with his girlfriend, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) and her daughter, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).

Linda is not convinced and Phil later tells George that there is no record of Rose, after his lawyer Ritchie Scott (Sian Webber) attempts to find her.

Cindy has been living in France with Ian, Peter (now Thomas Law), and his son, Louie Beale (Freddie Harrington).

Ian arrives to bring Cindy home but is too late to stop her bumping into George, who is hosting Anna's 21st birthday party at the Vic.

Believing the Fords killed Lucy, Cindy chose not to return to Marbella in fear of endangering George, Gina and Anna.

Cindy and Ian decide to open up a pie and mash shop, and convince Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) and his wife Suki (Balvinder Sopal) to invest in it.

Cindy is furious when she discovers that Gina is seeing Dean, and she offers him £60,000 to sell his shares of Beale's Eels to her and Ian and to leave Walford.

Cindy believes that Ian is cheating on her when he begins taking regular trips away, and she follows him to the Cotswolds where she discovers that he is meeting his ex-wife Jane Beale (Laurie Brett).

Cindy is furious and resents Jane for covering up Lucy's death and dumping her body in Walford Common.

Peter's girlfriend Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) discovers Kojo unconscious and becomes suspicious when she sees Cindy.

Unbeknownst to Cindy, her confession to David about sleeping with Junior and loving George was accidentally recorded by her daughter Anna and Freddie Slater (Bobby Brazier) for their birdwatching tape.

Lauren confronts Cindy over her accusations just as a brick with a message reading [[death "you should have stayed dead" is flung through the window.

Cindy becomes convinced that Kathy attacked her and conspires to get her drunk and record a confession; Ian discovers this and evicts her from the house, forcing her to move in with Junior.

[2] Writer Colin Brake has suggested that Cindy was "the most important character for the future" to be introduced in 1988, despite her low-key entrance.

[3] Actress Michelle Collins was asked to audition for the part by the soap's co-creator, Julia Smith, who saw her perform on stage.

She has commented, "Cindy arrived for 11 episodes, working on a hat stall and as a tease for Wicksy, but evolved into a much juicier character.

"[4] In 2015, former executive producer Matthew Robinson explained in a blog post why he had Cindy killed off, saying that keeping her alive "might have benefited the show" but it would have required Collins to commit to three days of filming to depict the birth of Cindy's baby and the outcome of her trial, because "no proper producer could allow off-screen portrayal of massive soap events like those".

Executive producer Chris Clenshaw explained that the reveal had been planned for the anniversary since early development of the celebration to add to its memorability.

[11] Radio Times praised executive producer Chris Clenshaw's decision to reintroduce her and said that her "epic" return "more than lived up to expectations".

[12] Likewise, Digital Spy praised all aspects of Cindy's return as they felt that despite the extravagant nature of the storyline, EastEnders had not gone overboard by bringing her back.