Cindy Beale

**Cindy Beale** (née **Williams**, previously **Rose Sawyer**/**Knight**) is the former wife of Ian Beale and George Knight, and the mother of Steven, Lucy and Peter Beale, Cindy Williams, and Gina and Anna Knight, as well as the grandmother of Beth, Louie and Abi.

Cindy was raised in Walford alongside her sister Gina and began working on her mother's hat stall at Bridge Street Market in May 1988. She began dating Simon Wicks who was already romantically involved with Donna Ludlow and soon the two women were competing for Simon's affections. Cindy later married Ian in 1989 and they had three children; Lucy, Peter, and Cindy.

While working together late one night at The Queen Victoria public house, Cindy and Simon have sex and Cindy becomes pregnant. She suggests leaving Ian for Simon but he refuses, not wanting to be tied down or upset his family so Cindy marries Ian, letting him think he is the baby's father, giving birth to Steven in December 1989. However, Simon decides he wants to be a father to his son and convinces Cindy to leave Ian, devastating him with the news that Steven is not his son and a feud erupts when he realises Simon is the father. Ian's behaviour grows erratic; after attempting suicide and failing, he chooses to ruin Simon's life instead so Simon decides to leave Walford with Cindy and Steven, leaving Ian heartbroken.

In 1992, Ian discovers that Simon has abandoned Cindy and Steven. Ian persuades her to return to Walford so he can help her bring Steven up. They reunite and Cindy gets pregnant in 1993. Richard Cole is romantically interested in Cindy but she rejects him, so Richard tells people that he is the father of her twins. Everyone believes him, and Ian and Cindy almost separate but the truth emerges, just before Lucy and Peter are born in December. Married life and motherhood takes its toll on Cindy and she has two affairs, first with Matt, a lifeguard, in 1994, and then with Simon's half-brother, David Wicks, also Ian's half-brother, in 1995. Cindy and David meet secretly for a year and she falls in love with David, growing less and less tolerant of Ian. Suspecting Cindy is cheating, Ian hires a private investigator, who records Cindy and David in a clinch. Ian vows to take Cindy to court for custody of their children. David loses interest in Cindy so she takes drastic action and in October 1996, she hires John Valecue, a hitman to kill Ian. Although she changes her mind, it is too late and Ian is shot, collapsing in a pool of blood in front of Cindy. The police suspect Cindy is involved and when David is called in for questioning, Cindy knows she will soon be arrested, so decides to flee with her children. Assisted by David and Barry Evans, she collects her sons, but is unable to get Lucy, and is forced to leave without her. David also stays behind, promising Cindy that he will try to get Lucy and join her later, but he never does.

Ian's private investigator, Ros Thorne tracks Cindy to Italy in 1997. Ian, Phil Mitchell and Grant Mitchell find her, and Phil and Grant abduct Steven and Peter while Ian claims he still loves Cindy and will forgive her. Desperate to get her daughter back, Cindy goes along with him but grows suspicious and calls the police, but it is too late. Despite a police chase, Ian brings his sons back to Walford. Cindy soon follows Ian back to Walford with her new boyfriend, Nick Holland. She takes Ian to court for custody of the children and wins. However, while collecting her children, Cindy is arrested for conspiracy to murder when Ian's associates visit Valecue in prison while he is serving a life sentence for murder, and persuade him to tell the police about Cindy's involvement. Ian wins full custody of the children and Cindy is charged and remanded while she is pregnant by Nick.

In 2023, she and Ian reunited and they both returned to Albert Square. It was revealed that Cindy was under the witness protection programme, she had assumed the identity of 'Rose Knight', the wife of George Knight and the mother of Gina and Anna.

## History

### 1988–1990

Cindy Beale first arrives at Albert Square in May 1988, wherein she begins working on her mother's market stall selling hats. She dates barman Simon Wicks (Nick Berry), who is also seeing Donna Ludlow (Matilda Ziegler), leading Cindy and Donna to fight for Simon's attention. 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. Initially she only wants to make Simon jealous but she and Ian start dating and by February 1989, they announce their engagement. Meanwhile, Simon retaliates by reconciling with Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean). However, while working together late one night at The Queen Victoria public house, Cindy and Simon have sex and Cindy becomes pregnant. She suggests leaving Ian for Simon but he refuses, not wanting to be tied down or upset his family so Cindy marries Ian, letting him think he is the baby's father, giving birth to Steven in December 1989. However, Simon decides he wants to be a father to his son and convinces Cindy to leave Ian, devastating him with the news that Steven is not his son and a feud erupts when he realises Simon is the father. Ian's behaviour grows erratic; after attempting suicide and failing, he chooses to ruin Simon's life instead so Simon decides to leave Walford with Cindy and Steven, leaving Ian heartbroken.

### 1992–1998

In 1992, Ian discovers that Simon has abandoned Cindy and Steven. Ian persuades her to return to Walford so he can help her bring Steven up. They reunite and Cindy gets pregnant in 1993. Richard Cole (Ian Reddington) is romantically interested in Cindy but she rejects him, so Richard tells people that he is the father of her twins. Everyone believes him, and Ian and Cindy almost separate but the truth emerges, just before Lucy and Peter are born in December. Married life and motherhood takes its toll on Cindy and she has two affairs, first with Matt (Toby Walton), a lifeguard, in 1994, and then with Simon's half-brother, David Wicks (Michael French), also Ian's half-brother, in 1995. Cindy and David meet secretly for a year and she falls in love with David, growing less and less tolerant of Ian. Suspecting Cindy is cheating, Ian hires a private investigator, who records Cindy and David in a clinch. Ian vows to take Cindy to court for custody of their children. 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. Although she changes her mind, it is too late and Ian is shot, collapsing in a pool of blood in front of Cindy. The police suspect Cindy is involved and when David is called in for questioning, Cindy knows she will soon be arrested, so decides to flee with her children. 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. David also stays behind, promising Cindy that he will try to get Lucy and join her later, but he never does.
Cindy as she appeared in 1998
Ian's private investigator, Ros Thorne (Clare Grogan) tracks Cindy to Italy in 1997. Ian, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) find her, and Phil and Grant abduct Steven and Peter while Ian claims he still loves Cindy and will forgive her. Desperate to get her daughter back, Cindy goes along with him but grows suspicious and calls the police, but it is too late. Despite a police chase, Ian brings his sons back to Walford. Cindy soon follows Ian back to Walford with her new boyfriend, Nick Holland (Dominic Taylor). She takes Ian to court for custody of the children and wins. However, while collecting her children, Cindy is arrested for conspiracy to murder when Ian's associates visit Valecue in prison while he is serving a life sentence for murder, and persuade him to tell the police about Cindy's involvement. Ian wins full custody of the children and Cindy is charged and remanded while she is pregnant by Nick. After realising Cindy is guilty, Nick leaves her without any money for a lawyer. Cindy's daughter survives and is named Cindy by Ian, in her mother's honour. Custody is given to Cindy's sister, Gina Williams (Nicola Cowper).

### 2023–present

Following the arrival of George Knight (Colin Salmon) and his girlfriend Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe) in Walford, Elaine's daughter Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) asks Phil to investigate what happened to his ex-wife, "Rose Knight", as George refuses to speak about her. After attempting to press George for details, he later reveals to Linda that Rose suddenly left him and their daughters, Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna (Molly Rainford), and has not been seen since. Linda is not convinced and Phil later tells George that there is no record of a woman called "Rose Knight", after his lawyer Ritchie Scott (Sian Webber) attempts to find her. Shocked by this, George later attempts to phone Rose. Cindy receives a call from George but does not answer, revealing that she is Rose Knight's true identity. Cindy is revealed to be living in France, having been reunited with Ian, as well as their son, Peter (Thomas Law). It is also revealed that Cindy is under the Witness Protection Act from a plea bargain after having made a deal in prison to give information against her inmate Jackie Ford, in order to avoid a prison sentence for conspiring to kill Ian. It had failed and led to Cindy having to fake her death to escape Jackie's criminal connections. Cindy's witness protection officer, DI Mary Nicholls, reveals that Jackie has died and that Cindy is free to resume her former life. Ian and Cindy argue when Ian suggests that they return to Walford and he later falls into cardiac arrest. Cindy later agrees to return to Walford, however, Ian sees a video via Peter that his son Bobby Beale (Clay Milner Russell) sent him of Cindy's ex-husband George, as the Queen Victoria pub landlord, and tells Cindy that they should remain in France.

## Background information

Cindy was introduced in 1988 in a minor role as a love-interest for Simon Wicks (Nick Berry). She was due to appear in only eleven episodes but the character evolved. 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.

Actress Michelle Collins was asked to audition for the part by the soap's co-creator, Julia Smith, who saw her perform on stage. Collins had previously auditioned for the role of original character Mary Smith, but at the time Julia Smith had decided they did not want that character to be from London, so that role went to Linda Davidson. Three years on, Collins won the role of Cindy. 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. Julia Smith said it would change my life. I didn't believe her - how wrong I was."

On 19 May 2023, it was reported that Collins would be returning to the show after 25 years in a storyline accommodating the return of Ian, thus resurrecting the character from the dead.