Actress June Brown, who played the much-loved character Dot Cotton on EastEnders for more than three decades, has died at the age of 95.
Dot Cotton was a fan favourite and one of the BBC soap's longest-running characters, first appearing in the series in 1985, the year EastEnders was created.
She stayed until 1993, returning to play the same character from 1997 until 2020.
June has been cemented in the soap icon status of fellow BBC star Barbara Windsor, who played Peggy Mitchell and died in 2020 at the age of 83 after suffering from dementia.
EastEnders legend June gave an emotional tribute to Dame Barbara in the wake of her death, telling how she wanted to meet up with her again near the end of her life.
The pair stayed in regular phone contact even years after Barbara left Albert Square.
She said in a statement after Barbara’s death: “I'm thinking of Babs as she was when she came into EastEnders as Peggy Mitchell - tiny, bright, bubbly, pretty and friendly to everyone. She soon became loved by all the cast.
“We became great friends. We had adjoining dressing room and she was always popping in for coffee, and we'd go to lunch together; she kept me up to date with all the gossip. I wished we'd had more scenes together but our only one was in her last episode, when Dot said goodbye to Peggy, knowing that she was dying.”
June said the pair talked regularly on the phone following Dame Barbara's departure from the soap.
She added: “In our last phone call she asked me several times where I was - I finally said 'I'm at home' and her comment was 'I'd like to come to your home', but it was too late for that. While I'm still here, she'll always be alive in my mind.”
But former soap chief Dominic Treadwell-Collins noted that it wasn’t always plain-sailing between the two soap powerhouse actresses, hailing Barbara as “the best executive producer EastEnders never had” for the way she often directed the rest of the cast.
The ex-show boss described how Dame Barbara “kept actors young and old in check”, reminiscing: “Once, June Brown shouted at us from her dressing-room window, ‘Your storylines are sh**’. Barbara grabbed her, brought her upstairs and told her to apologise.”
In the wake of June’s death, an EastEnders spokesperson said “there are not enough words” to describe how adored she was by the soap family.
In a statement they said: “ Her loving warmth, wit and great humour will never be forgotten.
“June created one of the most iconic characters in Dot Cotton, not just in soap but in British television, and having appeared in 2884 episodes, June's remarkable performances created some of EastEnders finest moments.”
