Cindy Cunningham (also Savage, Longford and Hutchinson) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Stephanie Waring. She made her first on-screen appearance on 4 December 1995, then played by Hayley Fairclough, as the youngest daughter of Gordon (Bernard Latham) and Angela Cunningham (Liz Stooke). Fairclough was the replaced by Laura Crossley as the character began to make more frequent appearances in 1996. Crossley quit the serial later that year and the role was recast to Waring who appeared from November 1996 to November 2000. Waring reprised the role briefly in 2002 and 2004 before returning as a full-time character in June 2008, reintroduced by series producer Bryan Kirkwood. In 2010, the character was temporarily written out for Waring's maternity leave. She returned to filming in January 2011 and returned to screens on 9 March 2011.
Waring has been nominated for several awards for her part as Cindy. Cindy has had many major storylines including teenage pregnancy, coping with the deaths of several family members, marriages to Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard), Alistair Longford (Terence Harvey), Mac Nightingale (David Easter) and Dirk Savage (David Kennedy), being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and revealing that she had a secret teenage son, Alfie Nightingale (Richard Linnell) with Mac. Cindy is the longest-serving female in the show, taking over from Frankie Osborne (Helen Pearson) following her departure in 2017.
Storylines
1995–2004
On her sixteenth birthday, Cindy sleeps with Lee Stanley (Nathan Valente). She soon finds that she is pregnant but, scared, tries to hide it. Stan offers to stand by Cindy throughout the pregnancy but she rejects him. Not long after, Stan is killed in a car crash, along with his friend Ollie Benson (Paul Leyshon). Cindy gives birth in secret on Christmas Day 1997 and abandons her daughter at a nearby hospital. Her father, Gordon (Bernard Latham) tells Cindy she has responsibilities and forces her to look after the baby, who she names Holly (Katie Hynes). After giving birth to Holly, she is devastated to find out that her sister Dawn (Lisa Williamson) has died of leukemia. Cindy grows depressed and attempts to suffocate Holly; however, her sister Jude (Davinia Taylor) stops her from proceeding and makes her realise that she truly loves her daughter.
After uneasy years of caring for Holly, Cindy and local decorator Sean Tate (Daniel Pape) begin dating. Secretly, though, Sean mistreats Holly. He is caught, locking her in a fridge by Cindy's brother Max Cunningham (Matt Littler). The social services get involved in Cindy's motherhood when Holly is burnt by a firework. Cindy sees no other option but to leave the country with Holly and Sean to get the social services off of her back. However, Holly does not have a passport and therefore, Sean immediately dumps a stranded Cindy and leaves the pair. Cindy returns to the village and begins to adapt to the life of a single mother.
Cindy settles into her new business venture, "Steam Team" and she falls in love with Ben Davies (Marcus Patric). Cindy and Ben's relationship struggles after she cheats on him with Dan Hunter (Andrew McNair) and Sam "O.B." O'Brien (Darren Jeffries). After beginning work at The Loft, Cindy leaves Holly asleep in the cloak room, where she finds and swallows an ecstasy tablet. After Holly is rushed to hospital, Cindy realises the social services will soon be involved. Cindy then decides to flee the country to avoid having Holly taken from her. On her dash to the airport, Cindy runs over Anna Green (Lisa Kay) with her car. Shocked, Cindy leaves Anna for dead and leaves for Spain.
Cindy returns from Spain in May 2002 with Holly. She secretly needs money but keeps her agenda for returning secret, she then decides to scam Max and O.B. out of their money. During her minor return, Cindy becomes illicitly romantically involved with Scott Anderson (Daniel Hyde), who is cheating on his girlfriend Steph Dean (Carley Stenson). After two months, Cindy manages to clear Max and O.B.'s bank accounts and leaves for Spain once more. When she returns to Spain, Cindy begins working as a pole dancer in a nightclub, where she befriends fellow worker Savannah Madeiros (Nicola Stapleton).