Question from Dayne Southern: Who would you miss the most from EastEnders if they left?
Barbara Windsor: I would miss Steve McFadden and Lucy Benjamin. And June Brown. I made June get a dressing room next to me as hers was upstairs and mine was downstairs. I would miss her very much.
Question from Andrew Christley: Who in EastEnders would you love to play apart from yourself and why?
Barbara Windsor: I like playing Peggy, maybe I'd want to be Sharon when she's behind the bar. You look at Sharon and think that's what Peggy was like years ago.
Question from Enna Couzens: Do you watch any other soaps apart from Coronation Street?
Barbara Windsor: I do, I love Coronation Street. I love Brookside. I think Brookside is all doom and gloom. Emmerdale, and I even switch on to Crossroads and Night and Day. I suppose next to EastEnders, I adore Coronation Street. I have some great friends in there. I think it's great that Julie Goodyear is going back into it.
Question from Martyn Gransden: Would you ever consider appearing in other soaps?
Barbara Windsor: I doubt they'd want a cockney bird in Corrie. It would be great to go up there and see how they do it.
Question from Amy Cotterill: Have you ever been faced with a script in EastEnders that you didn't want to do?
Barbara Windsor: Yes! It was the Mark Fowler and the HIV storyline, when Peggy discovers what he's got and she was vicious to him. She was so naive about the whole thing. When I got the script and it said some awful things, I couldn't believe it. It's the only time I've questioned the writers and said I can't believe it, people aren't like that today. Then they sent me a survey and proved that people are actually like that. When it came to doing the scenes, I just got hold of Todd and said, "sorry this is Peggy"! I got the most appalling mail because of it. I had a very dear friend of mine who was dying of aids so it was very personal to me. The last scene I did I went straight out and got terribly drunk.
Question from Lee Moon: Which do you prefer, scenes in or out of the Queen Vic?
Barbara Windsor: In. I feel safe there. It's quite funny because when someone new comes into the Vic, you can see they're shaking. They tend to hold on to a glass or something. I was really nervous when I came out of the Vic. I'd never been in the launderette!
Question from Charlotte: Was it complicated doing the Breast Cancer scenes, and did you learn a lot from it?
Barbara Windsor: I did. They came to me and asked me if I wanted to do this story. Originally I went to the boss and said this was the story I wanted to do so I got the storyline in the end. I thought it would mean a lot more as everyone knows me as bubbly Barbara Windsor with the boobs and all that. It was very poignant to me. Everybody was there for me and advising me what to do. Obviously I got the 12 letters out of the thousands saying that's not how it is, but what I tried to say was that everybody was different. I had loads of letters from men which was very touching.
Question from Greg: Hi Barbara, what's been your favourite storyline for Peggy?
Barbara Windsor: Not really favourite, but the greatest challenge was the cancer storyline. I loved all my scenes with Mike Reid. I love working with the two boys - I loved it when they were the two boys. One day they walked onto the set and they had their suits on, then the Di Marco's walked in looking the same - but they were my boys. Also, the cancer storyline highlighted breast cancer so it's good to know you're doing a bit of good too.
Question from Kelly: Where would you like to see your character Peggy go storywise?
Barbara Windsor: I wish you could tell me Kelly. Her love life is appalling. The way I feel now as Barbara, I don't want her to have a love life, I want her to sort this family out, baby Louise, Sam, Billy and Jamie. I want her to get the family back together. It wouldn't make good TV though would it.
Question from Andy Sussex: What are your or Peggy's best and worse qualities?
Barbara Windsor: Her best qualities are that she loves her family with a passion. Her worst qualities are that she's blinkered, sometimes wrongly passionate about her family. I would love Ross to come back, but at the end of the day, EastEnders is the star - people go and it just goes on. Whoever thought it would survive when Angie and Den went, but it does.
Question from Roy Coles: What do you like to do in your leisure time?
Barbara Windsor: I've kind of quietened down. I've put on a bit of weight because suddenly I'm starting to behave myself. My husband Scott is a great person. I always used to do things myself but I've allowed him to come into my life and do some things as well. I like to go to the theatre, the movies. I'm very much into walking through my front door and being Barbara Mitchell - I'm Barbara Mitchell now as I've got married. I like to be just me when I'm at home.
Question from Becca: If they did another Celebrity Big Brother, would you go, and if not why?
Barbara Windsor: No I wouldn't go because I'm very funny about toilets and things. My husband was a big fan of it, and it became compulsive TV for me too. It was great to watch but I couldn't do it.
Question from Diane Maddocks: What was it like meeting the Queen behind the Queen Vic bar?
Barbara Windsor: Brilliant. It was a stupid week, I'd done the Royal Variety Performance that week with Cilla and Paul O'Grady, which was so exciting, and I hadn't been on stage for about seven years. Of course, two days later I'm meeting the Queen. It was very exciting. I wore my MBE - with all the ribbons too! The first thing she said to me was "oh you've got a lot more on today" because the last time she saw me I was in the corset thing on stage. It was such an exciting day.
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