Cindy Cunningham (also Savage, Longford and Hutchinson) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stephanie Waring.

She made her first on-screen appearance on 13 November 1995, originally played by Laura Crossley, as the youngest daughter of Gordon (Bernard Latham) and Angela Cunningham (Liz Stooke).

[1] Waring reprised the role briefly in 2002 and 2004 before returning as a full-time character in June 2008, reintroduced by series producer Bryan Kirkwood.

Cindy is considered to be one of the show’s most iconic characters and has had many major storylines including teenage pregnancy; coping with the deaths of several family members; marriages to Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard), Alistair Longford (Terence Harvey), Mac Nightingale (David Easter), Dirk Savage (David Kennedy) and Dave Chen-Williams (Dominic Power); being diagnosed with bipolar disorder; and revealing that she had a secret teenage son, Alfie Nightingale (Richard Linnell), with Mac.

In 2008, Bryan Kirkwood had asked Stephanie to reprise her role along with Sarah Jayne-Dunn for the exit of their on-screen brother Max Cunningham on an initial six-month contract.

[2] The Channel 4 publicity website for Hollyoaks have described the character as having a manipulative personality that's not even cured by the death of her brother, and also that she constantly enjoys stirring up other people's lives.

She stated, "It's really fun to play the comedy and the manipulative bitch, but for me personally I feel more at home doing the drama — so it was really nice to get scripts again that show that.

"[12] Waring claimed that the plot made her emotional, she told PA: "I'm a mother myself so I have to put myself in that position and think how I'd feel how if it happened to me.

"[13] Despite promising Cindy would change, in an interview with Radio Times, Waring stated that viewers have not seen the last of her unpleasant side, which she dubbed "uber-Cindy".

[15] In conjunction with the storyline, Waring decided to support a Sunday Mirror backed campaign to raise awareness of mental health issues.

[17] In 2008, it was announced Hollyoaks producer Bryan Kirkwood had decided to bring back Waring to reprise her role as Cindy for the wedding, and funeral, of her on-screen brother Max.

We don't actually know what went on in Spain and what changed her over these last few years and we find out a little bit why in Hollyoaks Later which kind of brings it round full circle.

Her father, Gordon (Bernard Latham) forces Cindy to take responsibility and look after the baby, who she names Holly Cunningham (Katie Hynes).

Cindy becomes depressed and attempts to suffocate Holly; however, her sister Jude Cunningham (Davinia Taylor) stops her and makes her realise that she loves her daughter.

Cindy becomes romantically involved with Scott Anderson (Daniel Hyde), who is cheating on his girlfriend Steph Dean (Carley Stenson).

After being rejected by Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas), Cindy starts a fling with Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson), which ends when he is imprisoned.

At Christmas, Cindy assumes Tony has bought her an expensive gift, but is disappointed to discover he has gained Holly a place in private school.

As Holly lies in a coma, Cindy feels Tony is not supportive and seeks solace from ex-boyfriend Darren, believing her marriage has terminated.

Alistair's mother Blanche Longford (Georgina Hale) arrives in Hollyoaks after being called by his granddaughters India (Beth Kingston) and Texas (Bianca Hendrickse-Spendlove) in an attempt to sabotage the wedding.

A priest named Father Francis (Richard Winsor) arrives in Hollyoaks and catches the affections of Cindy and Carmel Valentine (Gemma Merna) who also works in Cinergy.

The police are called and Cindy, Carmel, Jacqui, Myra, Cheryl, Nancy and Lynsey Nolan (Karen Hassan) are arrested.

Eventually, Cindy accepts they won't have a future and ends up saving the day by confirming to Nancy, who is having doubts about his infidelity, that he is not having an affair.

However, he begins to neglect her as he continues to spend excessive time with Barney Harper-McBride (Tom Scurr) and Rob Edwards (David Atkins).

Cindy has a steamy session with Dr. Paul Browning (Joseph Thompson) after he splits up with Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe), after she discovers his plan to kill her mother, Myra.

Cindy soon recovers and while initially frightened, she plucks up the courage to tell junior doctor Lindsey Butterfield (Sophie Austin) that she wants to report her attacker to the police.

Cindy sleeps with Glenn Donovan (Bob Cryer) and is horrified when she realises he is Grace Black's (Tamara Wall) boyfriend.

Simone berates her over sleeping with Damon and when the emporium door closes, Cindy thinks Dirk is back and rushes over, but finds Milo instead.

She tries to gain his trust by telling him about Browning and Milo decides to leave her go but when she sees a toy axe in his bag, she panics and texts Tom.

[28] Inside Soap critic Sarah said "there are standout performances from some of my all-time favourite Hollyoaks stars, including [...] Stephanie Waring" during the Enjoy The Ride storyline.

[31] Di Hollingsworth from Soaplife included Cindy and Ben's hit and run incident involving Anna in their list of top ten soap storylines in which characters get away with committing crimes.