June Brown's real-life children will appear in an episode of EastEnders during Dot Cotton's funeral.
The actor starred in the long-running soap for over 30 years, playing the iconic launderette assistant for most of her time on the show.
Sadly, however, Brown died in April this year, aged 95.
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And earlier this month, it was revealed in the show that Dot, who had been living in Ireland, had died peacefully in her sleep.
The BBC series will now pay its respects to the star, with a special episode marking the character's funeral on Monday (12 December).
Speaking to Digital Spy, executive producer Chris Clenshaw revealed that Brown's actual children asked to attend Dot's funeral in the show.
He said: "This is a very special episode for us. It's one we'd rather not have had to do as it means having to say a final farewell to one of our most loved characters.
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"When we said goodbye to June Brown earlier this year, we knew at some point we were going to have to say goodbye to Dot.
"I'm sure June won't mind us saying that when she was with us, she was adamant that she didn't want Dot to be killed off.
"She did of course know that when she did sadly leave us, that it was the right thing to do and we had to give her and the audience the send off they deserve.
"So after some time, we knew we couldn't put it off for much longer and we started to discuss these episodes.
"We of course spoke to June's family, who also knew that this was what their mother would have wanted.
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"In fact, June's children Nim, Sophie and Billy knew how much EastEnders meant to their mother, so much so that they requested to attend Dot's funeral to say their goodbyes, which was absolutely lovely for all of us involved."
Clenshaw said Brown's children loved being part of the show's farewell to their mum's much-loved character'
"Obviously EastEnders meant a lot to June and it was a big part of their lives too," he added.
"So they approached us – they asked if they could be part of the episode and we thought it was a lovely idea.
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"You might get a tiny glimpse of them, as they're sitting with [Dot's great-nephew] Reiss in the church.
"They got in touch with us after we shot the episode saying that they had an absolutely wonderful day, because the cast were reminiscing and sharing stories about June.
"It was a really nice moment."
Topics: TV and Film, UK News
Dominic Smithers