A beloved EastEnders star has confirmed her temporary exit from the BBC show for a "strange" new role.

Michelle Collins, who plays Cindy Beale, will leave the show for a month after playing a prominent part in the programme's 40th anniversary earlier this year.

She revealed the news at the British Soap Awards, an event that was dominated by the London-based show.

Michelle Collins confirms exit from EastEnders for 'strange' new role

Speaking with The Mirror, the EastEnders actress said: "Well, I'm going off in the summer.

"I'm doing my one-woman show at the Edinburgh festival, called Motorhome Marilyn.

"I don't think she's anything like Cindy. It's a play about a woman impersonator lookalike who lives in a trailer and dresses as Marilyn Monroe. But she's 60, it's kind of strange.

"It's about failure, lost dreams, and feeling like life has passed you by. She's an interesting character. I'm really excited to play it. EastEnders have let me have a month off, so I'm very excited."

However, the Cindy Beale star remained silent about how she would be written out of the show by BBC bosses.

She told fans that her character would be focusing on her business and would not be getting involved in love interests for the time being.

Despite this, the star added that there would be "fun stuff" coming up with Elaine and Cindy with George.

The actress first took on the role of Cindy Beale all the way back in 1988 for a two-year stint.

She then returned to the show in 1992 for six years before taking a longer break.

After being on rival soap Coronation Street, she made yet another return to the soap opera.

Fans slam EastEnders showrunners for handling of Cindy Beale character

This comes after fans of the show slammed show bosses for the way they handled her return to the soap.

One fan took to the EastEnders subreddit to say that there has been "no progression" to her character in the years she has been absent from Albert Square.

They went on to dub her "a lying manipulative cheat who only cares about herself."

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Another penned: "I hated them bringing her back because of exactly this, she's exactly the same character no change. It's exhausting every time she's on screen."

While many fans agreed with this, one user said: "Unpopular opinion: I am loving Cindy being back."

They added: "As she is constantly bringing the drama and now she is involving half the Square in her family shenanigans like Jean & Harvey."