Dot Branning

Christian, chain-smoker, elaborately-becoiffed, and legend of the launderette, there's not much that happens on the Square that arch-gossip Dot Branning doesn’t know about…

Fact title	Fact data
First appearance:	4th July 1985
Address:	25 Albert Square
Occupation:	Assistant at Laundrette

Dot has a psalm for every occasion, and has certainly needed her faith to cope with good-for-nothing son Nick Cotton. Like the perennial bad penny, her villainous offspring resurfaces again and again, and despite herself Dot always forgives him.

I'm not one to gossip but...Dot Branning

Health issues: Although Dot is a hypochondriac, she was treated for kidney cancer in 2004
Vices: Dot smokes menthol cigarettes and drinks sweet sherry on special occasions
Dislikes: She's not partial to foreign food and quizzes
Likes: Baking, knitting and going to the church
Favourite films: Casablanca is one she likes to play again...

We see a man who'd poison his own mother to steal her bingo winnings - an ex-heroin addict and murderer. But to Dot he's the black sheep, sent to be guided back to the flock.

The other man in her life is a different kettle of fish entirely. Jim Branning was an unlikely match for Dot, but he's proven to be both her soulmate and her salvation. His love brought out her more tender side, especially following his stroke in 2008.

With Jim in care, Dot has found support from an unlikely source - Fatboy - and is fully versed in London street slang as a result.

As timeless as the Queen Vic, Dot's seen hundreds of Walford residents come and go, and good friends pass away – Ethel, Pauline, Pat. Life hasn't been easy for Dot, but she's still standing.

June Brown

June directed Double D at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden, the Edinburgh Festival and King's Head Theatre in Islington.
June is president of the Michael Elliot Trust, which runs a donkey sanctuary in Derbyshire called Freshfields. It partners children with special needs with donkeys.
Although June now wears a wig to play Dot, originally it was her own hair, re-styled.
Leslie Grantham (a.k.a. Den Watts) recommended June for the role of Dot.
Before finding fame as Dot, June's long career in TV included appearances in Coronation Street, Doctor Who, Angels, Churchill's People and The Duchess of Duke Street.
June appeared alongside ex-EastEnder Leslie Schofield (Brian Wicks and Jeff Healy) in the BBC's 1985 production of Oliver Twist.
June played Gladys in the ITV drama Margery and Gladys. She starred alongside Penelope Keith who played Margery.
In 2000, during a break from EastEnders, June starred as Nanny Slagg in the BBC's drama Gormenghast.
Her many theatre credits include The Lion In Winter, An Inspector Calls, Nightshade and Calendar Girls.
On the big screen, she's appeared in Bean: The Movie, Straw Dogs, Nijinski and Sunday Bloody Sunday, among others.