EastEnders aired epic scenes on Tuesday night, as fans of the BBC soap finally learned what happened between Cindy Beale AKA Rose Knight and her husband George.
Viewers recently learned that Walford icon Cindy had gone into witness protection in 1998, leading to her faking her death and ditching the Beales. While she was presumed dead all this time, earlier this year the BBC soap brought her back in a major twist with actress Michelle Collins reprising her role.
Cindy was revealed to have been in hiding, and some time over the past year she has reunited with ex Ian Beale, and their son Peter. Hiding out in France, it soon emerged she shared a link with new Walford family the Knights. During her time in witness protection, Cindy, now known as Rose, married George and had two daughters, Gina and Anna.
In 2014 after a row with George, she packed up and left her family without warning. The Knights have never known why she left, while some viewers had predicted it was linked to the death of her daughter Lucy Beale in Walford during this time.
Tuesday night saw George learn the truth about his missing wife's disappearance, and her secret life before they met. She also explained what happened that led to her ditching the Beales and later ditching them too. Viewers finally got the full details of what happened nine years ago, as flashback scenes revealed everything.
EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likenessIn epic scenes, we saw Cindy in Marbella with her family in 2014, before she received a horrifying phone call from her police handler Mary confirming the death of her daughter Lucy. We then saw a frantic Cindy rushing upstairs and packing her bags while also emptying the safe.
George came home and confronted her, begging her to tell him what was going on. But a shocked Cindy couldn't do so and left, with him warning her not to come back. Suddenly, we saw Cindy back in Walford on the night of Lucy's murder being discovered. We saw Ian heading towards The Queen Vic to break the news to his son Peter that his twin sister Lucy had died.
What we didn't see at the time this aired in 2014 was that someone was watching them - Cindy. Cindy had feared her being in witness protection was the reason Lucy died, and maybe she had endangered her family. She also wanted to reconnect with them, only for Mary to catch her and encourage her to leave.
Mary claimed she could be doing more harm than good and could endanger the Beales and the Knights by being back in Walford. Cindy reluctantly left, and she didn't return to Marbella, instead starting again to keep them all safe. The flashbacks confirmed exactly what happened in the fallout to Lucy's death, and that Cindy knew all along and even tried to leave witness protection.
It also became apparent to George that she didn't simply walk out, but felt forced to leave. Of course the dramatic episode ended with her finally coming face-to-face with her daughters Anna and Gina for the first time in nine years.
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.* Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on , , , , and .