Legendary actress June Brown will always be remembered for her time as soap icon Dot Cotton on EastEnders.
Sadly, the 95 year old will not return to the series again as she passed away on Sunday night (3 March).
However, it seems that June felt her time on the BBC One soap was over after she left in January 2020.
June made it clear that she had “left for good” after EastEnders bosses said that the door would always be open to her return after Dot moved to Ireland to live with her grandson Charlie and his family.
June opened up about her decision to leave the show on Distinct Nostalgia podcast in February 2020.
She admitted: "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.
“I did make up a limerick. It’s a bit dirty. I went back to do a good story. Alas and alack, when I got back it had gone up in smoke.
“Well that is no joke. I got a small part, a very small part. And that ended up as a big wet fart. Alas and alack, I will never go back."
Her co-star, John Altman who played her onscreen son, Nick Cotton admitted at the time that June had disclosed her reasons for leaving.
"I spoke to her obviously [and] I don't want to quote her but I think generally, bless her heart, she's 93 number one, so she does get very tired these days," he toldThe Sunin April 2020. "Number two, I don't think she was getting the best of storylines.
"She's very much a die-hard professional in the business and she wasn't getting quite what she was… she wasn't very impressed by some of the writing she was getting."
John also explained that June had been unhappy when her on-screen granddaughter, Dotty Cotton, had been replaced by a new actress.
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Milly Zero filled in Molly Conlin’s role as Dot's granddaughter Dotty, which was said to be “a great shame” to June who enjoyed working with Molly.
He added: "It was a great shame that Molly Conlin wasn’t brought back as Dotty as well. I don’t think she was very happy about that.
"And nor was I, actually, I didn't understand why, when they had the original actress who'd grown up, they hadn't brought her back, but that's up to the BBC.
"I think all those things [I've] mentioned – tired, not delighted with the storylines and a different Dotty. She just wasn't happy anymore so she had to decide to leave, which is a shame."
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