Cindy Beale is 'a woman on the edge' in EastEnders special ...

Actor Michelle Collins has said her EastEnders character Cindy Beale is “a woman on the edge” as she reflected on the explosive Christmas Day goings-on.

Collins, who has a starring role in the festive episodes as her character Cindy’s life unravels after a USB recording of her admitting to cheating on Ian Beale is played at a Christmas party, praised the show, saying it had been directed “brilliantly”.

Speaking at a screening for the festive special, the 62-year-old said: “Christmas is a real tough one to do, the scene at the beginning with Mo and Billy, and her (Cindy) coming out in the fur coat and everything, I just think it was really beautifully shot.

“It was far too good for EastEnders, but it just looked like a proper bloody movie didn’t it, it was just great, everything about it.”

Collins went on to say she had been looking forward to playing “bad Cindy” again after a reasonably mundane start to her return to Albert Square.

She said: “She’s very unpredictable, I never know what she’s going to be doing next, thank you to Simon Ashdown (EastEnders writer).

“She is a kind of joy to play, people just love to hate her, I don’t know if they will after this, they might just hate her, and want her dead and gone.”

Her co-star Harriet Thorpe, who plays Elaine Knight (formerly Peacock), told Collins she thought it was a “moving moment” when Cindy admitted “I mess up”.

Collins said: “It probably is the first time she has been honest, you’re never quite sure what she’s like, when she says things like, ‘I want to run off a cliff’ and ‘my self-destruct button’.

“I think you probably know more about Cindy in those episodes (festive shows) than you ever probably did because she kind of opens up more, because she’s so desperate.

“This is a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, she really is a woman on the edge, and what actor doesn’t want to play that kind of role?

“When I came back it was great, and Ian took her back, and I was very thankful and everything, but it was like, where is Cindy? We want the old Cindy back.

“I remember Chris (Clenshaw, executive producer) last year at the Christmas party saying, ‘don’t worry Michelle, it’ll be alright, she’s going to come back’.”

The conversation also turned to what Clenshaw would be doing to honour the show’s 40th anniversary next year.

He replied: “I can’t say too much, what I will say is, it’s explosive, apart from the live episode, we’ve pretty much shot most of it, and it’s looking brilliant, expect everything.”

Adam Woodyatt, who plays Ian, the show’s longest-serving character, said: “Expect everything, and a bit more.

“The anniversary week is just bonkers, I think I can safely say for all of us, we picked up the script, and we all just went, ‘what the f***?’.

“It was literally, how the hell are we going to do this, and we have.

“We obviously haven’t done the live element yet, we’ve done all the bits leading up to it, and it was obviously brilliant.”