EastEnders’ Cindy Beale makes shock return 26 years on from her dramatic death as Rose Knight’s true identity is exposed

She died in childbirth after plotting to kill her then-husband – or so EastEnders viewers were led to believe.

But 26 years on from her dramatic death, Cindy Beale is very much alive and living a rather glamorous life in the sun.

The character, played by Michelle Collins, will return to the BBC soap – and is set to reunite with her long-suffering ex-husband Ian Beale.

Cindy supposedly died while serving time in prison for hiring a hitman to kill Ian, played by Adam Woodyatt.

But it appears she has been living a double life under the moniker ‘Rose Knight’.

She’s back! 26 years on from her dramatic death, Cindy Beale is very much alive and living a rather glamorous life in the sun

Surprise: The character, played by Michelle Collins, will return to the BBC soap – and is set to reunite with her long-suffering ex-husband Ian Beale (pictured in 1997)

The identity of Queen Vic landlord George Knight’s ex-wife has been kept under wraps, but a teaser at the end of Wednesday’s episode showed Cindy picking up George’s call while sprawled out poolside on a sun lounger in France.

George, played by Colin Salmon, could be seen pouring himself a brandy and playing Seal’s Kiss From A Rose on the pub jukebox before the scene cut to Cindy, confirming weeks of suspicion over Rose’s true identity.

George arrived in Walford earlier this month, after his new girlfriend Elaine Peacock invested money in her daughter Linda Carter’s pub.

Michelle, who also played Stella Price in Coronation Street from 2011 to 2014, said she initially thought a comeback was ‘ridiculous’.

‘I think if it had happened five years ago I probably would have said no,’ she told a press conference. ‘But it’s about timing and when Chris approached Adam and I and we’d both been touring and he’d mentioned it to me and I said don’t be silly.

‘And then we had a meeting and I said to my agent, ‘oh this is ridiculous, it’s never going to happen’. And they said let’s just go and meet Chris [Clenshaw, producer]. And we had this breakfast meeting and he got his laptop out and he reeled it all off.

‘And we both went ‘wow, oh my god’. And then I was like maybe this could work.’

Cindy first arrived in Albert Square in 1988, striking up a relationship with Ian after tiring of barman Simon Wicks, played by Nick Berry.

Return: Cindy has been living a double life under the moniker ‘Rose Knight’

Drumroll: The identity of Queen Vic landlord George Knight’s ex-wife has been kept under wraps, but a teaser at the end of Wednesday’s episode showed Cindy picking up George’s call

Sinister: In an epic two-night affair, viewers will finally learn the truth about George  Knight’s past and the identity of his ex-wife Rose (Colin Salmon pictured as Geroge) 

Link: Fans noted that in the latest trailer if the letter ‘E’ was taken from Rose and added to Thorn, the two words would then spell ‘Ros Thorne’

Throwback: Ros appeared in the show between 1997-1998 as a private detective hired by Ian to track down his wife, after she fled the country  (actress Clare Grogan pictured as Ros) 

Cover up: Cindy supposedly died while serving time in prison for hiring a hitman to kill Ian, played by Adam Woodyatt. But it appears she has been living a double life (1989) 

She later married Ian after a brief fling with Simon saw her fall pregnant with her son Steven. Simon eventually convinced her to tell Ian the truth and to leave him.

The pair left Walford, but Cindy returned in 1992, rekindled with Ian, and welcomed twins Lucy and Peter, before having an affair with lifeguard Matt and later her ex-Simon’s half-brother, David.

After Ian threatened to take her to court to get custody of their children, she had him shot by a hitman before fleeing. He later hired a private investigator who tracked her down in Italy where she was living with her new boyfriend Nick Holland. On returning to Walford she was arrested for conspiracy to murder.

In 1998 Ian received the news that she had died giving birth to her daughter with Nick.

Michelle said she was ‘incredibly nervous’ on returning to the soap but said by the end of a six-page scene with Woodyatt ‘it was like putting on a pair of old slippers’.

She added: ‘Both of us have mellowed and I think we’re both just kind of comfortable in our lives and it felt like it’s the right kind of time.’

 The actress also praised British soaps for offering ‘fantastic stories’ for older women.

‘There aren’t that many shows on TV really that give women of a certain age central characters and show their stories,’ she said. ‘And when you get to 60 as a woman, you’re not written off and you get to do these fantastic things.

‘I think that’s why EastEnders is great because it’s not all about youth. It’s just about people and really strong women.’ Cindy isn’t Ian’s first relation to come back from the dead.

He was led to believe his mother Cathy Beale had died in a car crash in South Africa, but she returned to Walford in 2015.

Other residents who have avoided the grim reaper include Dirty Den Watts who walked into the Queen Vic 14 years after he fell into the canal on being shot and Grant Mitchell who was spotted in Rio de Janeiro with his daughter Courtney despite supposedly drowning.

EastEnders airs the truth about George’s past on Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and iPlayer. 

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