Get the latest OK! breaking news on WhatsAppOur community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More infoJoin us on WhatsApp The mystery that’s been keeping EastEnders fans on tenterhooks for two months has finally unravelled, revealing Kathy as the culprit behind Cindy Beale’s harrowing Christmas Day ordeal. In a jaw-dropping twist, viewers watched Cindy brandish a gun at Ian, accusing him of the attack after discovering her stolen locket in his possession. As tensions soared, Ian, cornered by Cindy with the firearm, pointed the finger at Peter. In a dramatic entrance, Ian’s mother Kathy burst onto the scene, admitting to a stunned Cindy that she was the one who wielded the snow shovel in the Square, driven by a desire to see Cindy pay for her actions against Ian.
EastEnders’ Kathy Beale star Gillian Taylforth has discussed the shock twist
(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
Over the past eight weeks, the list of potential assailants had grown to nine, including Cindy’s children Peter, Gina, and Anna, her ex-husband George, and her paramour Junior—who is also George’s son. In an unprecedented move for the show, the cast members were brought together to discover the identity of the attacker, a moment Gillian Taylforth, who portrays Kathy, described as “shocked” upon learning the truth. “Chris asked us all to come in for a meeting so he could tell us altogether which was great fun,” she reminisced. The group reveal was a special nod to the anniversary, a deviation from the norm where such secrets are typically disclosed individually. Until that revelation, none of the actors had any inkling, though Gillian revealed that the consensus among them was already pointing to her character as the assailant, reports the Mirror.
The 40th anniversary drama continues tonight…
(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron/Matt Burlem)
“I had a tiny suspicion it could have been Kathy, only because it’s no secret that there is no love lost between her and her daughter-in-law, but I was shocked when I found out!” confessed the soap star. Gillian, like any avid viewer, had her own hunches about the assailant. She disclosed she was “convinced” Peter or Ian were responsible for the savage assault on Cindy. “I thought the tables would have turned and Ian would have a go at getting his own back on Cindy, or that Peter would have reacted on behalf of his dad,” she said. Gillian didn’t stop theorising there: “I even thought it could have been Junior at one point as Cindy humiliated him in the pub and he was lurking in the shadows on Christmas night.” Of course, the revelation on Tuesday was just an entrée to the drama, as hinted by Gillian: “Tonight’s episode is just the beginning of what’s to come, it doesn’t end here.” Post Kathy’s shocking reveal, pandemonium ensued. Starting in the Beale household, where Cindy ‘inadvertently’ shot Ian in the arm with Phil Mitchell’s firearm. Outdoors, things escalated rapidly as Cindy shoved Ian into the path of an on-edge Reiss’s vehicle, after he threatened her with hell if she spoke to the coppers. What followed was Reiss losing control of his car, ploughing into the Vic and colliding with gas cylinders, igniting an inferno set to rock the very foundations of the Square….
