EastEnders Icon Takes Break for New Career Away from Albert Square

Michelle Collins has revealed she is taking a break from EastEnders to star in a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival next month. 

The actress, 63, who portrays the BBC soap villain Cindy Beale, is set to become the ultimate blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe in the dark comedy Motorhome Marilyn.

Michelle admitted ‘it’s exhausting being a b**ch all the time’ in EastEnders so she is ‘very nervous’ and ‘terrified’ to take on the new role. 

She told The Mirror: ‘It’s been years in the making so I can’t wait to get it out there but I’m very nervous. Think Shirley Valentine meets the Coen Brothers meets Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. 

‘It’s one of the most terrifying things I’ve done. My lines are in my handbag everywhere I go.’ 

The play, inspired by Michelle’s real-life encounter with a woman known as Motorhome Marilyn, is about a Monroe-obsessed actress’ heartbreaking failure to live up to the icon’s fame and beauty.

Michelle Collins has revealed she is taking a break from EastEnders to star in a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival next month

The actress, 63, who portrays the BBC soap villain Cindy Beale, is set to become the ultimate blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe in the dark comedy Motorhome Marilyn

The company’s synopsis of the show reads: ‘Motorhome Marilyn follows Ruthie Richards, a shy English girl who headed to Hollywood years ago to try her luck in the movies. What is left when things don’t quite work out as planned.

‘Ruthie now moves between parking lots, convention centres and parties eking out a living as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator but what is the true cost of failure.’

Motorhome Marilyn is by Ben Weatherill and directed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones. 

The actress has big dreams for the show as she added that she hopes ‘it will eventually go on TV’, but has assured BBC fans she will be back on Albert Square after a month-long break. 

The soap star joined EastEnders as Cindy in 1988 but left 10 years later and went on to appear in Coronation Street and Casualty.

Cindy’s cheating ways – mainly at the expense of ex-husband Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) – earned her a reputation as an Albert Square homewrecker. 

She even tried to kill Ian before fans were led to believe that she had died during childbirth in prison. 

But when Cindy returned to Walford in 2023 after a 25-year break, it was revealed she had actually been put into witness protection under a new identity.

Michelle admitted ‘it’s exhausting being a b**ch all the time’ in EastEnders so she is ‘very nervous’ and ‘terrified’ to take on the new role

She said: ‘It’s been years in the making so I can’t wait to get it out there but I’m very nervous. It’s one of the most terrifying things I’ve done. My lines are in my handbag everywhere I go’

The actress has big dreams for the show as she added that she hopes ‘it will eventually go on TV’, but has assured BBC fans she will be back on Albert Square after a month-long break

She is now also the ex-wife of George Knight (Colin Salmon) and has sparked plenty of drama since her return by having an affair with George’s estranged son, Junior (Micah Balfour). 

 It comes after Michelle celebrate the EastEnders 40th anniversary earlier this year speaking to the Radio Times. 

She revealed that while TV often doesn’t favour women over a certain age, soaps like EastEnders give them a voice and share their stories.

She told the publication: ‘TV isn’t great for women of a certain age, but soaps are. What EastEnders and characters like Cindy show is that we have got voices, we have got stories – and they should be heard.

‘I loved it for the first few years. When I came back in the 90s, I was in my early 30s and very ambitious, I never saw myself there for the future.’ 

She continued: ‘Now I’m back again, I’m happier to stay. I think I’m more comfortable in my own skin, more content, and I’m not running away all the time. I’ve certainly grown, and hopefully I’m a better actor.’