Among all the outstanding actors who have appeared in the BBC’s television soap EastEnders over the years, none lasted longer, nor retained such huge popular affection, as June Brown, who has died aged 95.
In the role of Dot Cotton, the chainsmoking, hypochondriac launderette manager of Albert Square, Brown created a great Dickensian character of detail, humanity and colour that enrolled her in the long-running soap’s female pantheon, alongside Barbara Windsor’s Peggy Mitchell, Wendy Richard’s Pauline Fowler, Anita Dobson’s Angie Watts and Pam St Clement’s Pat Butcher.
