June Brown who plays Dot Branning – or Dot Cotton, depending on how best you know her – in EastEnders has been a fixture of Albert Square since 1985, the year of the show’s conception.
Unashamed fans of the soap like myself would agree that Dot’s reddish hair and Biblical words of wisdom have offered living rooms the length and breadth of Britain some fine acting over the years.
Recent storylines have seen her being made redundant at the launderette – yes, there is still a shortage of washing machines in Walford – having trouble with her eyesight (inspired by Brown’s real life) and feeling lonely, although she seems hellbent on denying it.
There seem to be no plans to “retire” her character, either in the back of a cab or in a gob-smacking death, just yet, as soap bosses are reportedly keen to renew her contract ending in March.
‘Ooh I say’
As Brown turns 90 on Thursday, she continues to remind fans of EastEnders that it is still the soap they know and love. A pillar of familiarity, with her catch phrases – “Ooh I say!” – her penchant for a sherry and her continuous quoting of chapter and verse from the Bible, she is one of the soap’s icons.
She told Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs that EastEnders was her reason to get up in the morning. “I think that’s why a lot of people are very lonely and get ill when they’re older, because I think loneliness and having no motivation, nothing to work towards… I think it kills you.”
In truth, it’s the soap and the British public that need her.
At a time when the availability of roles for older actresses is coming under just scrutiny – particularly in comparison to their male counterparts – Dot Cotton’s continuation on our screens should be celebrated. Her performances over the years – flitting easily back and forth between comedy and heartache – proves that the weight of experience can outshine the novelty posed by rising stars.
Soaps exist, in part, to highlight important societal issues. Growing up watching storylines unfold on the Square, I’ve certainly learnt a thing or two.
As you sit there watching her eat her turkey dinner for one on Christmas Day, you’d be heartless not to be moved and perhaps a tiny bit guilty.
We can all learn from Dot
We could all learn from her most recent storyline. Although subtle at times, for me it has been one of her most powerful yet. Regular viewers are watching Dot cope with loneliness and at times isolating herself.
The triggers have been slowly building. Dot has lost her best friends, Ethel and Pauline. She’s lost her son, the criminal Nasty Nick, her husband Jim, played by John Bardon, and some family members have moved on. The family and friends living nearby sometimes innocently forget about her as they go about their busy days. You see her begin to feel irrelevant in the face of new technology – the launderette bosses feel she won’t be able to cut it after the shop is refurbished into a swanky dry cleaners.
As you sit there watching her eat her turkey dinner for one on Christmas Day, you’d be heartless not to be moved and perhaps a tiny bit guilty. I know I felt intensely guilty for not making enough of an effort with my family and friends.
So while Brown might need EastEnders for a day’s work and a reason to get up in the morning, we certainly need Dot. Not only to form the backbone of one of the nation’s great soaps, but to prick our awareness of the 1.2 million older people living among us with loneliness.