EastEnders star shares real-life friendship with on-screen rival

EastEnders' Elaine Peacock and Cindy Beale are far from the best of friends in the soap, but thankfully star Harriet Thorpe has revealed that their relationship is a lot more harmonious behind the scenes.

Harriet, who took over the role of Elaine from Maria Friedman earlier this year, told Inside Soap that she and Cindy star Michelle Collins are actually good friends in real life "and have been for many moons".

"We know lots of people in common, live in the same area and see each other all the time," she said. "We enjoy the frenemies thing between Elaine and Cindy!"

elaine peacock, cindy beale, ian beale, george knight, eastenders
BBC

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Cindy has been nothing but a headache for Elaine so far since she made her shock return to Walford in the summer, with Elaine concerned about the impact of Cindy's return on her partner George Knight – who happens to be Cindy's ex – and George and Cindy's daughters, Gina and Anna.

Harriet has previously spoken about Elaine's views on Cindy, hinting that Elaine could more than handle her potential rival for the Knight family's love.

"Cindy is slightly troubling and she is a slight problem. But you know Elaine's nickname, it's Hurricane Elaine," she said at the time. "It's not going to be a problem for her."

elaine peacock, eastenders
BBC

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Meanwhile, Harriet also told Inside Soap about what she'd love to see from a potential wedding for Elaine and George, revealing that she'd like to see a theme to the nuptials.

"We know Linda grew up loving musicals, so I've decided in my dreamworld backstory where that comes from: maybe Elaine ran a pub in the West End years ago?" she suggested. "So Elaine's wedding theme would be musical theatre mixed with Hollywood glamour. The guests would have to dress up!"

Whether Elaine and George will eventually make it down the aisle remains to be seen...

EastEnders airs on Mondays - Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.


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