EastEnders spoilers follow.
EastEnders star Michelle Collins has revealed that she won't appear in the 40th anniversary special.
The BBC soap is celebrating its milestone anniversary by airing a week of episodes that will all take place over the course of just one day, culminating in a special live episode on Thursday (February 20).
While Collins' legendary character Cindy Beale will appear in the episodes running up to the special as she discovers who attacked her on Christmas Day, she won't appear in the live episode itself.
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"I’m actually not going to be in the live," she confirmed to Metro. "I am allowed to say that. It’s quite complicated but I am in the lead-up to the live. I actually think it’s very well done."
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Sharing her relief over not appearing in the episode, Collins added: "I’ve done a lot of theatre but I don’t think it really matters. Live TV is very different to live theatre, so I think there’s going to be quite a few very terrified actors."
The episodes leading up to the special will see Cindy discover the identity of the person who attacked her on Christmas Day, before she violently confronts them.
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While suspicion has fallen on several people, Collins has said she wasn't surprised when she found out the attacker's identity.
"Was I surprised? No, I wasn’t surprised when I found out," she said. "I think Cindy will be very surprised when she finds out.
"It’s great the way they’ve done it with the suspects being so close to Cindy, it’s really been exciting."
The anniversary episodes will also see a shocking series of events that set off an explosion inside The Vic - and not everyone makes it out alive.
EastEnders airs on Mondays-Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.
