Cindy Beale’s Christmas Day attacker revealed in EastEnders anniversary week

The identity of Cindy Beale’s Christmas Day attacker will be revealed during the 40th anniversary week of EastEnders.

In the festive special Cindy (Michelle Collins) was knocked unconscious and left for dead by an anonymous assailant with a shovel, but fans will have to wait until February to discover the perpetrator.

Executive producer Chris Clenshaw said: “Our 40th anniversary storylines have been in the works for some time, but even at the very start of planning we knew that we wanted to reveal the identity of Cindy’s attacker as part of this.

“Many characters currently find themselves in the line of question, but over the coming weeks, the audience can look out for clues themselves to who may be the culprit.

“Cindy’s attacker reveal is just one of many stories we have planned for the anniversary, as it is set to be a week of explosive drama for the audience to remember.”

The character’s dramatic storyline began when Lauren Branning, played by Jacqueline Jossa, revealed she had a recording of a conversation which lifted the lid on Cindy’s affair with Junior Knight (Micah Balfour) behind the back of her fiance – Ian Beale.

Cindy is heard telling David Wicks, Ian’s half brother, with whom she once had an affair, that she had “settled for Ian” and described him as “the easy path”.

She also revealed that she loves Junior’s father, George Knight, to whom she was once married, and caused Kojo Asare’s fall, which left him in a critical condition, in an effort to keep her secret.

In the episode, Lauren gave the audio as a secret Santa present to Ian (Adam Woodyatt) who, thinking it was a festive playlist, played it to a shocked Queen Vic.

It came after Cindy attempted to blackmail Lauren to keep her affair a secret by supplying her with pain medication, triggering a chain of events in which she and her son Louie were almost killed in an inferno.

The dramatic episode concluded with Cindy being knocked unconscious after being followed by an unseen character while walking to a taxi, having being kicked out of the house by Ian.