Ian Beale’s (Adam Woodyatt) happiness with ex-wife Cindy (Michelle Collins) looks to be short-lived as he realises he’s playing second fiddle to her ex-husband George Knight (Colin Salmon).
It’s been a whirlwind year for the Beale family, with Cindy returning to Walford, with Ian on her arm, after being presumed dead for twenty five years.
During her time away she’d forged a new life in Spain after being placed under witness protection, marrying George and giving birth to two daughters – Gina (Francesca Henry) and Anna (Molly Rainford).
But Cindy’s new life, under the pseudonym Rose Knight, ended dramatically when she put her family’s safety in jeopardy to fly back to Albert Square in the wake of daughter Lucy’s (Hetti Bywater) murder.
Cindy’s still holding onto Rose…
The couple go way back
Knowing she could never return to Spain, Cindy rekindled her relationship with Ian, and reunited with son Peter (Thomas Law) before coming home for good last summer – immediately bumping into George, Gina and Anna who were now running the Queen Vic with his new fiancée Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe).
Since then Elaine has been suspicious of the two growing closer, with them asserting that their relationship is purely platonic for the sake of their daughters.
Next week, after learning the horrific truth about his parentage, George wants to speak to nobody else but Cindy, who is on holiday in Germany with Peter visiting her daughter Cindy Jnr (Mimi Keene), who is yet to discover she is alive.
George had discovered that his dad Eddie (Christopher Fairbank) had killed his birth father at the request of his mum Gloria (Elizabeth Counsell), who had fears that he would take young George away.
Unable to share his pain with partner Elaine, George leaves Cindy a worrying voicemail which leads her to cut her trip abroad short.
Ian is put out to learn she’s headed straight to comfort George rather than return to their family home, will he realise that there is more to their relationship than meets the eye?
