EastEnders finally confirmed which Walford resident was behind Cindy Beale’s attack in tonight’s episode, amid the soap’s 40th anniversary celebrations.

After last night’s cliffhanger, EastEnders fans watched as Cindy pointed a gun at the person holding the necklace, which was stolen from her on the night she was left for dead. The camera then panned to reveal that it was in fact Ian Beale who was dangling the incriminating locket – however, he’s not the attacker.

“It wasn’t me, honestly. You’ve got to hear me out,” he told her, while Cindy replied with a gun pointed at him: “If you say another word, I will use it Ian.”

After claiming that Ian never loved her and that he wanted to control her, Cindy accused him of trying to kill her. While Ian tried to claim that it was Peter who attacked her, she doesn’t believe him. She’s about to shoot when Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), dropping the major bombshell: “It wasn’t Ian. He didn’t try to kill you – it was me.”

Gillian shared that she wanted to attack Cindy after watching what she did to her son. “I thought anything could happen, his heart but you know what, at least you were gone. At least he was safe from you,” she said. “Oh no – there you were, traipsing past the house. Back.”

She added that her only regret was that she was still “standing there”. She took the locket because it belonged to Lucy, gifted to her for her 18th. “You do not get to keep it,” she told her. “You do not get to steal that memory too.”

Fans were shocked by the reveal, with many convinced that Cathy is actually covering for someone else. “Why do I still feel Kathy is protecting Peter another parallel of Jane protecting Bobby,” one wrote. “Kathy is definitely covering for someone because why would she randomly just admit this #eastenders.”

On Christmas Day, Cindy was attacked with a metal shovel by a mystery person after her affair with Junior Knight was exposed by Lauren Branning. Cindy was rushed to hospital and made a full recovery, but discovered that the culprit had snatched her locket, which contained a photo of her late daughter Lucy Beale.

In Monday night’s episode, Cindy – who was convinced that her cuckolded husband Ian had been the one behind the attack – burst into the Beales’ home with a gun, to find someone dangling the locket. “You!” she shouted, while pointing a gun on them.

Fans of the EastEnders soap were convinced that they had rumbled a major twist behind Cindy’s attacker earlier in the week, with many suspecting that it’s her son Peter Beale who’s holding the locket. “So it’s obvious Peter’s got the locket right,” one fan wrote on X.

Another said: “It’s got to be Peter right???” A third added: “Peter did it lol,” as a fourth posted: “Was deffo Peter that walloped Cindy over the head.”

However, others were sure that there’s another twist to come, with the person holding the locket in the scene not being the person who attacked her. “Peter was the one who took the locket but he didn’t attack Cindy,” one fan wrote, while a second added: “So now I think it can’t be Peter because what would the big reveal be? I’m moving onto the Cindy Jr did it train.”

Earlier in the week, EastEnders ‘let slip’ the return of three major soap characters with a shot of a family photo. Fans are certain that Lynne, Zoe and Little Mo Slater will be back during the soap’s 40th anniversary programming this week, with one writing on social media: “Is this a clue? Has Kat gone to pick up Zoe, Lynne and Little Mo to bring them to the reception #EastEnders?” Another fan posted: “The zooming in on the beloved Slater sisters omg PLEASE be a clue of great things to come.”

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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