EastEnders icon teases Cindy Beale and Max Branning's potential for "rollercoaster" romance after flash-forward episode
"You know what, are they both as bad as each other? I don't know."
Michelle Collins has spoken about the prospects of a true romance between Cindy Beale and Max Branning (Jake Wood) in EastEnders.
The BBC One soap has positioned Cindy as one of multiple potential brides for Max in the recent New Year's Day 2026 flash-forward episode set in 2027.
This followed the pair having a passionate encounter as strangers on Christmas Day 2025, before their fling was explosively revealed during their shared grandson Jimmy Beale's christening.
Cindy detests Max following his actions towards her children, with Max having slept with her daughter Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) and also being responsible for the death of her eldest son, Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell).
However, the pair recently found themselves as allies against their shared enemy, the scheming killer Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness).
While attending The Radio Times Covers Party 2026, we asked Michelle Collins about Cindy's complicated relationship with Max, and simply had to question: are they a match made in heaven or in hell?
Michelle answered: "You know what, are they both as bad as each other? I don't know. I would like to think Cindy has a bit more of a heart than Max does, but I think they're interesting together. I think they're interesting together because I think Cindy needs somebody kind of like him, rather than, possibly, someone, a bit more like Ian."
Despite this, Collins didn't give their potential future romance much of a long life expectancy.
"I can't imagine it lasting forever," suggested Collins, "but I can imagine it being kind of a bumpy ride and quite exciting, kind of up and down, 'Will they/won't they?' kind of thing, you know, absolutely."
Of course, Cindy has never had a quiet love life - from her adulterous affairs with Simon (Nick Berry) and David Wicks (Michael French), to her recent affair with Junior Knight (Micah Balfour), despite being in a relationship with Ian again and being in love with Junior's dad, her ex-husband, George Knight (Colin Salmon).
Yet, in recent months, despite George divorcing his most recent wife, Elaine Peacock (Harriet Thorpe), he is now expecting a baby with Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington), and any hope of a romantic reunion for Cindy and George seems dead in the water.
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Questioning whether George had seemingly moved on, Michelle answered that he did so "very quickly".
However, she noted of Cindy and George: "I mean, I don't think it was ever going to really work anyway."
She continued, "I kind of can see why they didn't put them back together again. He's now with Nicola, isn't he? It's weird, because everything is so intense, and then you spend so much time with this person, and then you've kind of moved on, and then you say, 'Well, you know, should I not? Oh no, that's finished. That's gone out the window'."
Michelle also said, "I haven't had a scene with Colin in about six months. It's quite weird, yeah. Well, that's continuing drama for you, isn't it?"
Well, thanks to that flash-forward episode, we know that Cindy and George are both still in Walford in 2027, so anything could happen...
Read more:
- 5 EastEnders spoilers next week: Shock proposal amid wedding drama for Nigel and Julie Bates
- EastEnders reveals shock outcome of Joel Marshall's trial in early BBC iPlayer release
- EastEnders reveals Mark Fowler Jr's secret and surprise connection to Walford local in BBC iPlayer release
- EastEnders airs dark Ravi Gulati scenes amid revenge story in early BBC iPlayer release
- 10 EastEnders characters who need to have a huge 2026 – from Chelsea Fox to Oscar Branning
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Lewis is the News and Trends Editor at Radio Times and leads our approach to news, reactive content, and serving audience demands and interests. An obsessive fan of television and film, Lewis is a Nicole Kidman fanatic with a side of passion for science-fiction, art-house cinema and the latest HBO drama. Lewis has a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Film Studies. After working in advertising, Lewis worked at The Mirror for three years in community management and SEO, showbiz, film and television reporting.
