Cindy Cunningham
| Cindy Cunningham | |||||||||||||
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| Hollyoaks character | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Stephanie Waring | ||||||||||||
| First appearance | 1995 | ||||||||||||
| Created by | Phil Redmond | ||||||||||||
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Cindy Cunningham is a fictional character on the long-running Channel 4 British television soap opera Hollyoaks.
She was played by actress Laura Crossley from 1995 and then by Stephanie Waring between 1996-2001, with a return in 2004 and a full time one that began in 2008.
The beginning (1995 - 1996)
Life was going quite smoothly for Cindy until the night of her sixteenth birthday, when she succumbed to Lee "Stan" Stanley’s advances and unwittingly became pregnant. Cindy concealed the pregnancy from her parents and, when she finally gave birth, abandoned her child and tried to carry on as normal. Her parents reunited mother and child forcibly, but a desperate Cindy tried to suffocate baby Holly. The shock of this made her realise that she did in fact genuinely love her baby. Just as Cindy’s life was finally going well again, she got together with the decorator Sean Tate, who proceeded to mistreat Holly, which came to a head when Holly burnt herself on a firework. The incident was brought to the attention of Social Services, who would continue to hound Cindy until she was forced to leave Hollyoaks in November 2000.
A devastated Cindy was abandoned at the airport by Sean, losing all hope of a life abroad when Holly was prevented from leaving because she did not have a passport. Instead, Cindy returned to Hollyoaks and tried once again to adapt to the role of a single mother. As Cindy settled into her new business venture, "Steam Team", she met and fell head over heels for Ben Davies, a trainee fire-fighter who had recently moved to the area. Still juggling work and motherhood, Cindy was working at The Loft and unable to find a babysitter, so she had to take Holly to work with her. She left Holly sleeping in the club’s cloakroom and, unbeknown to Cindy, Holly found an ecstasy tablet and swallowed it. As Holly was rushed to hospital, Cindy realised that it would only be a matter of time before Social Services would try and to take Holly away from her.
Dramatic exit (2001)
A desperate Cindy concluded that she had no choice but to flee the country, as she could not bear to lose her child. She managed to persuade Ben to pick her up from the hospital and, as they made a mad dash to the airport, Cindy knocked Anna Green over. Desperate to get away, Cindy left Anna for dead, drove to the airport and left with Holly. Ultimately, Cindy was a girl who was forced to grow up before her time, but the child she had resented more than anything was eventually the person for whom she gave up everything.
Return and Max's death (2008)
Cindy and Holly returned to Hollyoaks in June 2008 after Cindy escaped from an abusive ex-boyfriend, Phillip, although Cindy made this up as a cover story because she stole Phillip's money and then came back to Hollyoaks so he wouldn't find her. Cindy went to her brother, Max Cunningham, who agreed to let them stay with him. Cindy was immediately at odds with Max's fiance Steph, believing her to be only after Max's money (ironically, the exact type of person Max's ex-wife Clare was), and inquired to the worth of MOBS with the estate agents. Upon finding out about the inquiry, Max believed it was Steph, not Cindy, and called off the wedding, until he found out the truth and threw Cindy out.
Although she wasn't invited to the wedding, Cindy turned up at the wedding reception. After making a catty remark to step-sister Mandy after Tina McQueen threw wine on her, Mandy did the same to Cindy. Cindy took Darren Osborne upstairs to have him clean her top before it stained, leaving the impression that the two were flirting with each other in the midst of a crisis. Cindy was left devastated with step-sister Mandy upon hearing of Max's death from Jack.
Cindy has tried flirting with Warren Fox on several occasions, after turning Darren down at Steph's wedding. However, to date Warren has rebuffed all of her advances. She is now dating Darren Osborne, and their fling appears to be blossoming into a genuine relationship. The relationship crumbled when Darren was sent to prison for fraud. Darren Wrote Cindy A Letter Saying He Cant See Her Anymore And Telling Her To Stay Away
Cindy is now a bar maid at The Dog. She lost the job once Frankie Osborne put the pub up for auction but eventually managed to get it back.
Warren and Mandy's Affair
Cindy has recently been accused of trying to sleep with Warren Fox, as his girlfriend Louise Summers found a pair of pants, and Warren blamed Cindy and not his actual mistress; Cindy's step sister Mandy Richardson. Cindy tries to prove her innocence by hiding in Louise's wardrobe and jumping out on Warren and his mistress. It all goes wrong as Lousie returns, and Mandy manages to flee without being seen. Warren then takes Louise to the bedroom and is about to sleep with her when Cindy jumps out with a camera. Cindy is gobsmacked to see its Louise and the pair end up in a nasty catfight before Louise throws her out. Cindy is shown throwing locks of Louise's hair at her before leaving and scheming for another way to prove her innocence.
The next day Cindy gets a letter from Darren telling her to stay away from him and not to visit anymore. Cindy was upset but soon interupted a conversation between Mandy and Warren. Louise soon appeared her and Cindy got into another catfight which ended with Cindy biting Louise. Cindy is then threatened by Warren to stay away from Louise. Cindy later goes to speak to Warren but over hears him dumping Mandy. Thus her learning his real mistress.
The next day which is Mandy's birthday Cindy is seen giving Mandy a card and trying to cheer her up as Mandy has not heard from her younger brother Tom. Cindy soon overhears Louise's plans to throw a suprise party at Tony's. Cindy arrives uninvited at the party but is let in as she is Mandy's step sister. Cindy soon interrupts a conversation between Mandy and Warren and tells them she knows about everything and that she herd him dump her. Cindy and Warren soon end up in a quiet argument. Cindy tells Warren she is only keeping it secret for Mandy's sake. After all guests leave Tony's Cindy is seen talking to Warren. She threatens to tell Louise everything if he doesn't give her £5000. The next day Cindy appears and Warren is about to hand over the money but drops a bombshell. He tells Cindy that if Louise finds out about the affair he will hurt Holly. Cindy automatically backs off for the sake of her daughter.