One of Hollyoaks’ biggest ever legends spotted on set for major return

She’s back! (Picture: Lime Pictures)

Hollyoaks was forced to make some incredibly difficult choices when Channel 4 decided to shrink it’s output from five half-hour episodes a week to just three twenty-minute instalments.

The down-sizing of the show saw 130 members of staff made redundant, including 20 cast members and was an incredibly brutal time for many who’d worked for so long on the show.

The two cast axings that perhaps upset fans the most were James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan), who went on to – not really- perish in a car bombing, and show stalwart, Cindy Cunningham (Stephanie Waring), who had a much more low-key exit after discovering that the loveable loser and delivery driver she was engaged to was actually a historic hitman who’d terrorised the incredibly over-populated gangland of Chester for decades.

Both have since been rectified, though, with James coming back from the grave, initially as a guest character before his real-life teaching commitments came to an end, facilitating a full-time return, and Cindy making an upcoming comeback of her own.

Stephanie is back home… …and will be back on screen as Cindy imminently

Metro previously revealed that Stephanie would be returning to the show as a full-time character, with a source saying: ‘Steph leaving was easily the biggest shock of the cast cuts, after all, she has been there since day one. Fans have long hoped that she would one day be back,

‘The cast and crew are thrilled to have her back in the fold and fans will be equally excited – Cindy will always be at the centre of Hollyoaks and that won’t change when she comes back. There’s a lot planned!’

Stephanie was incredibly open about the pain she felt upon her axing, taking to Instagram with a reel of Cindy’s biggest moments

‘I can’t believe I am writing this and I have taken the last two weeks to process and come to terms with the shock of what I am about to say,’ she began the caption.

‘I am heartbroken to announce that my character of Cindy has been included in the actors reduction of Hollyoaks.

Stephanie had previously expressed her upset at being axed… …but all is right in Dee Valley now she’s back!

‘I was given the chance to say I had chosen to quit the show to spare me any embarrassment of revealing that I’ve been axed, which was very kind.

‘But I don’t want to lie to the fans who have followed Cindy’s journey for nearly 3 decades as I believe they know she nor I would ever have left the show by choice.

‘Hollyoaks is in my blood and I have loved every minute of walking in Cindy’s heels.’

Stephanie will be setting the trainers aside and slipping back into Cindy’s heels

She later took to Instagram to talk about her last day of filming, captioning the image: ‘Today I had to say goodbye to some crew members I have been working with for the last 16 years.’

‘And known for the last 28 years. And it just hit me like a thunderbolt. I’m really going to miss these people.’

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