Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Lord Michael Cashman ‘humbled’ to return for EastEnders funeral of Dot Branning

Lord Michael Cashman who will briefly reprise his role as Colin Russell in the BBC1 soap, EastEnders (BBC)
Lord Michael Cashman who will briefly reprise his role as Colin Russell in the BBC1 soap, EastEnders (BBC)

Lord Michael Cashman has said he was “humbled” to be invited back to EastEnders to appear during the funeral of Dot Branning.

The actor-turned-Labour peer, known for playing Colin Russell in the BBC soap, is among the many old friends of Branning, formerly Cotton, returning to pay their respects in the special scenes.

The storyline in December is also a chance to honour their late co-star June Brown, who died in April at the age of 95 and had played Branning on-and-off since 1985.

Other names returning for the storyline include Barry Clark portrayed by Gary Hailes, George “Lofty” Holloway played by Tom Watt, Mary “The Punk” Smith played by Linda Davidson and Disa O’Brien portrayed by Jan Graveson.

Lord Cashman said: “When I got the first message asking if I’d be interested in returning, it was an unequivocal, unqualified ‘yes’.

“I couldn’t imagine Colin not being at his amazing friend Dot’s funeral and I couldn’t imagine not being there for June.

“She created a television icon that will stretch beyond the test of time. I had to be there and I was humbled that they thought of me.”

He described Brown as “the ultimate professional” and said her legacy would be “to show what brilliant work and commitment can achieve”.

Upcoming scenes will show Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) receiving the call to say Branning has died and set about planning a fitting send-off for her grandmother.

As she struggles with her grief, she will turn to ex-husband Martin for support and Reverend Mills, who will officiate the service.

Cassidy to return to EastEnders
Natalie Cassidy as Sonia Fowler (BBC/PA)

Graveson said it was “important” to return to film the funeral “because seeing Dot off means seeing June off again”.

“When I think of June, I think of Dot, and when I think of Dot, I think of June because she invoked so much of herself in that character,” he added.

“It’s eerie. She was amazing at it. I hit it off and became very good friends with June from working on EastEnders. Our friendship lasted until the very end.

“I was extremely close to her because she was a one-off and very extrovert, and we had the same birthday, which she always talked about.

“In times of trouble in my life, I’ve gone to June, stayed over at her house, and she’s let me be there for days.

“I’ve done a lot of work for animal welfare and June came to all of those events with me. She was a brilliant human being.”

Jacqueline Jossa, who played Branning’s step-granddaughter Lauren, said there had been a special mood during filming.

Her character will jump on a plane from New Zealand to represent Jim’s side of the family at the funeral.

The 2019 I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! winner said: “No one can say a bad word about June and we really felt that when we were filming.

“It was also a send-off to June as much as it was for Dot.

“It was a bittersweet moment as we were all sharing stories and there was so much laughter.”

Davidson described the character of Branning as “perfection”.

“Dot was very resilient and she was also the matriarch of the show,” she said.

“She was the glue between the characters and grounded a lot of the storylines.

“She had those threads all the way around the community. Dot was also like June herself, terribly loyal as a friend like with Ethel and Lou and Mary, of course.”