BARBARA WINDSOR

(6 August 1937 - 10 December 2020)

The British actress Barbara Windsor, who has died aged 83 from Alzeimer’s disease, became an iconic figure if not a national treasure. Born Barbara Ann Deeks in East London, the teenager at first opted to study shipping management, she then soon joined a stage school, making her debut in the chorus of Love From Judy in 1952. Her first film was The Belles of St Trinian’s (1954) and then she worked for Joan Littlewoood’s Theatre Workshop at Stratford East in Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’be and the film Sparrows Can’t Sing which earned Barbara a Bafta nomination. More theatre included Oh, What a Lovely War! on Broadway where she was nominated for a Tony, Lionel Bart’s Twang!, Come Spy With Me alongside Danny La Rue, The Threepenny Opera with Vanessa Redgrave and Twelfth Night (as Maria) at Chichester. Further fame came with appearances in nine of the Carry On films from Carry On Spying in 1964 to Carry On Dick in 1974. Other films she made include On the Fiddle, Death Trap, Crooks in Cloisters, A Study in Terror, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Boy Friend, Not Now, Darling and It Couldn’t Happen Here. She reached iconic status playing Peggy Mitchell, landlady of the Queen Vic, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders on and off from 1994 until 2016. She certainly made the part her own, especially with her signature cry of “Get outta my pub!” Retiring from the series, she did other work including BBC Radio 2 and was the voice of the Dormouse in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and its sequel. In 2014 she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and she and her husband Scott Mitchell became ambassadors for the Alzheimer’s Society. Dame Barbara Windsor was appointed a Dame Commander in 2016. She was previously married to the entrepreneur Ronnie Knight and the chef-restaurateur Stephen Hollings before marrying the former actor and recruitment consultant Scott Mitchell in 2000.

MICHAEL DARVELL