EastEnders: Cindy's return will lead to 'fireworks' says Gillian Taylforth

EastEnders legend Gillian Taylforth promises an eventful time ahead for her alter ego Kathy Beale, who plays a prominent role in three major storylines.

As well as facing pre-marital woes with partner Rocky Cotton (Brian Conley), Kathy is set for a tense reunion with former daughter-in-law Cindy (Michelle Collins).

Back from the dead, Cindy will return to Walford alongside Kathy’s son Ian (Adam Woodyatt) later this summer, and it sounds like we can expect all hell to break loose.

Speaking at a recent press event, Taylforth teased: “As you can imagine, Kathy [and] Cindy together — the woman that tried to have her son killed — and now she just returns from the dead.

"There [are] fireworks.

Read more: EastEnders: Cindy Beale’s return from the dead is 'nothing short of explosive'

“[They are] great scenes, well written, and it was great to play those with Michelle. It wasn't easy-going by any means, the scenes we did together.

"Easy for us to do, I should say, but very, as you can imagine, fireworks were going left, right and centre in those scenes,” she said. “They were great to film, they were; they were great to shoot.”

Touching on the one thing that Kathy and Cindy have in common — faking their own deaths — the star added: “It’s a great story because how can Kathy complain? Because she’s done exactly the same thing, so I’m sure that will come out in the scenes that we are gonna be doing.

“So what can Kathy say to that [reminder]? She did it, and now [Cindy’s] done exactly the same thing. The only thing is I didn’t try to have my son killed, did I?”

So, a good old EastEnders showdown is on the way; but Kathy will also find herself central to the soap’s big Christmas story.

A flashforward earlier this year showed her alongside five other female characters as they confirmed the death of a mystery man — and it will be murder.

“We loved it, the six of us loved the storyline,” Taylforth enthused.

“We were called up to Chris’s office - Chris Clenshaw, executive producer. We were called up to his office, and we all just sat there, gobsmacked, thinking ‘What a fabulous idea, this is great.’

"We said ‘Do we know who it is?’ Well, we said ‘Do you know who it is?’ And he went ‘Well I know who it is, but you won’t be finding out!’

Read more: EastEnders Christmas 2023 flash-forward murder: Who dies?

Asked whether she and her co-stars have formed any theories on just who ends up being killed, she admitted that they’ve given this a good try.

“Well, we’ve all sat around and obviously wondered who it could be, and we’ve all sort of worked out: ‘No it can’t be that one, no it can’t be this one because of…no it can’t be.’

“I even said at one stage, it got so fraught when we were thinking about it, I even said ‘Maybe it’s me.’ And then I suddenly thought no, it can’t be me, I’m in the purple dress, silly daft moo!

"It’s weird because we just don’t know, we’ve got no idea whatsoever, no idea.”

In an effort to get the gossip, she jokes, she even came up with a new strategy: “The funniest thing was when we [were] at the TRIC awards the other day, I spoke to Chris and Sharon [Batten, series producer], and I said ‘I’m gonna try and get you drunk so that you might tell me who it is.’

“And they both looked and laughed and said ‘It’ll never come out of our lips,’ and I thought ‘Oh no!’ and then I was sitting there going ‘It could be this one, we think it could be that one.’

While we’re busy wondering who the murder victim is, it’s easy to forget that there are actually two mysteries to unravel here. “Sharon said the one we’d never even thought of, she said ‘It’s funny how you’re all wondering who it’s going to be, but none of you have thought, who’s actually killed the person?’”

“I thought ‘Ooh, it could be me, this time next year I could be in prison!’ I thought, blimey, I hadn’t even thought about that,” she considered.

Read more: Every EastEnders icon returning as Angela Wynter and Thomas Law make comebacks

It’s clear that Taylforth couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of such a big storyline. “I was really, honestly I have to say, I was really chuffed that I was chosen as one of the six, I really was, and all of us.

"Because a couple of them, when they heard about what was going on, were going ‘Oh, I’d love that.’ So I was really chuffed that I was actually one of them.”

While the star is unaware of the outcome of this plot, she is happy to continue speculating along with us — including pondering whether Kathy may be in the frame. “Could she kill someone? I think yes, if it came to it, and it was something to do with her family, or something that really, someone had hurt her so much, and she was like ‘I've had enough.’

“I think urged on with people — we’re all in it together, let's face it — and we all decide, yes, it could happen and I think all six of us could do that, all of us.

"It could be something like the Orient Express, where we’ve all killed him or her or whoever it is, and we all say it’s us, and then we all stick up for one another.”

Watch the EastEnders Christmas flashforward teaser