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Dot Cotton Actor June Brown Has Left EastEnders 'For Good'

Dot Cotton Actor June Brown Has Left EastEnders 'For Good'

She's been on the show for 35 years

Amelia Ward

Amelia Ward

EastEnders actor Dot Cotton, played by June Brown, has left the show 'for good'.

The much-loved actress has left the show after being on it for 35 years.

She revealed the news in an interview with podcast Distinct Nostalgia, in which she confirmed: "I've left for good."

The podcast had asked her about her character Dot not being in an episode since January.

BBC

A BBC spokesman said that the 'door remains open' for the actress, who has been on the show since 1985 - the year it was created.

In her last appearance in the show, which aired last month, Dot had left a voicemail for Sonia Fowler saying she'd moved to Ireland.

Interviewer and former co-star Rani Singh asked whether she was on a retainer but June replied firmly: "I don't want a retainer. I've left. I've left for good.

"I've sent myself to Ireland and that's where she'll stay. I've left EastEnders."

Later on she added: "I think I got it because they thought I was a punctual actress. I'm not really but I became so. In fact I became so punctual I used to be in an hour before I should be."

PA

The podcast aired a special episode to celebrate 35 years of EastEnders.

June, who has just turned 93, said: "I was feeling rather down the other day. I thought, 'what's the matter? Why do I feel so sad?' It's almost as if I've been bereaved.

"I've played two people simultaneously for 35 years. Really Dot wasn't me, but spiritually she probably was."

Last year, Brown revealed that because she was losing her sight, she could no longer recognise her friends and had been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration.

An EastEnders spokesman said: "We never discuss artists' contracts, however as far as EastEnders are concerned the door remains open for June, as it always has if the story arises and if June wishes to take part."

Between 1993 and 1997, Brown left EastEnders.

In 2008, she became the first actor in any British soap to do an entire episode by herself. The episode included an emotional monologue that was dictated to a cassette for her screen husband to listen to in hospital following a stroke.

In the same year she was made an MBE for services to charity and drama.

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: TV and Film