Tag: EastEnders

British History

On this day in history….16th February 1927

On this day in history : 16th February 1927 – The birth of actress June Muriel Brown MBE – best known to us as the gossiping, chain-smoking busy-body Dot Cotton in EastEnders….

img_2415
June Brown MBE in 2009 – image credit: Joe Freeman – Flickr CC BY 2.0

June was born in Needham Market, Suffolk to Louisa Ann and Henry William Melton Brown. She was one of five children but her baby brother died at just 15 days old and she also lost an elder sister….

After attending school in Ipswich June then won a scholarship to Ipswich High School…. She was evacuated to the Welsh village of Pontyates during World War 2 but spent the latter part of it in the Wrens (Royal Navy)….

June was classically trained as an actress at The Old Vic Theatre School in Lambeth…. When she was 23 she married actor John Garley – but tragically he died in 1957 having taken his own life after suffering from depression….

In 1958 June remarried, another actor named Robert Arnold and they had six children (one of whom died in infancy) in their 45-year marriage, before Robert sadly passed away in 2003…. June continued to live in their Surrey home….

img_2416
June Brown at the funeral service for actress Wendy Richard. 9th March 2009. Image credit: Gary Knight via Wikimedia

In her varied and extensive career June was seen in many TV shows:- Coronation Street, Angels, Minder, The Bill….the list is endless. She had parts in costume dramas such as The Duchess of Duke Street and Oliver Twist…. She also had roles in several big screen films and was active in British Theatre….

But the role we know June for most of all is that of Dorothy Branning in EastEnders – or as most of us called her….’Dot Cotton’…. The first ever episode of EastEnders was shown on the 19th of February 1985 and June joined the cast in July of the same year – her first screen appearance as Dot being on the 4th of July…. She was recommended to the producers of the show by Leslie Grantham, who played ‘Dirty’ Den Watts….

img_2418
Dot Cotton – Fair use

June won several awards for her role in the soap, among them Lifetime Achievement Award in the 2005 British Soap Awards…. June was awarded an MBE in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to drama….

Dot Cotton – “You know me, I’m not one to gossip” – with her sometimes tragic storylines but often comical character was one of our TV favourites….. She was a national treasure, just like the real-life woman who played her….

June passed away on the 3rd of April 2022, aged 95….

img_2417
June Brown at the BAFTA’s 2009. Image credit: Damien Everett via Flickr
British History

On this day in history….11th July 2005

On this day in history : 11th July 2005 – The death of actress and dancer Gretchen Franklin – with a career spanning over 70 years but best known to us as Ethel Skinner in the BBC soap ‘EastEnders’….

Gretchen Franklin as Ethel Skinner in EastEnders : Image from the BBC

Gretchen was born on the 7th of July 1911 in Covent Garden, London, into a theatrical family…. Her father was a singer and dancer and her grandfather had been a famous music hall entertainer…. She was also the cousin of Clive Dunn….

She made her stage debut in a pantomime in Bournemouth, as a chorus girl, whilst still a teenager…. In 1929 she began dancing lessons at ‘The Theatre Girls Club’ in Soho – she was to go on to become a Tiller Girl at the London Palladium….

Gretchen married her husband, John Caswell Garth – a writer, occasional actor and the manager of an acting company – in 1934…. They were to have no children and he died of cancer in 1953; Gretchen never remarried….

Her acting career really took off during World War Two, when she was cast in the West End musical ‘Sweet and Low’…. Her film career began in the mid 1950s and she was then to go on to a long and varied television career…. Her appearances included ‘Crossroads’, ‘George and Mildred’, ‘Rising Damp’, ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ and many, many more – but what we really remember Gretchen for most is her role as Ethel, best friends with Dot Cotton and Lou Beale, in ‘EastEnders’….

Dot Cotton, Ethel Skinner, Lou Beale – Fair use

Ethel Mae Skinner – with her little pug dog ‘Willy’, her love to gossip (although rarely getting the facts right) and the odd tipple or two in the Queen Vic…. Ethel was one of the original characters in the soap when it first appeared on our TV screens in 1985…. She was eventually killed off in a controversial episode in July 2000 – when dying of terminal cancer she asked her life long, closest friend, Dot, to help her end her life with an overdose of morphine tablets….

Gretchen’s departure from EastEnders, at the age of 89, ended her acting career…. She died four days after her 94th birthday at her home in Barnes….

Image : Pinterest