Lacey Turner has revealed that EastEnders legend June Brown became so upset with the soap's direction that she decided to leave, despite BBC bosses offering her a retainer contract.
Brown, who played Dot Cotton for 35 years before departing in 2020, had grown disappointed with storylines and turned down the chance to stay involved with the show. She was 93 when she left Albert Square, and died two years later.
Close Friendship and Memoir
Turner, known for playing Stacey Slater and a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, became close friends with Brown during their time together on the soap. She wrote about Brown in her memoir Gold Dust: My Life (So Far) with the Women Who Shaped Me.
In the book, Turner described how Brown was deeply engaged with the show's production, reading every script and knowing all the characters' stories. Even as her sight failed, Brown had someone read scripts to her in full.
Turner wrote: "So, as the years went on, she became upset about the direction the show was taking, she hated some of the storylines." She added that Brown struggled with how the world and television viewing habits were changing, noting, "I completely get where she was coming from because I feel a bit like that as well."
Final Scenes and Departure
In her final scenes, Dot left an emotional voicemail for Sonia explaining she had gone to Ireland to visit her grandson Charlie. The character's exit followed a storyline in which Martin Fowler was wrongly blamed for stealing Dot's savings, when her own granddaughter Sonia was responsible.
Speaking on the Distinct Nostalgia podcast to former co-star Rani Singh, Brown said after her exit: "I don't want a retainer for EastEnders, I've left. I've left for good." She also recited a limerick she had composed about her return to the show, ending with "Alas and alack, I will never go back."
Brown first appeared in EastEnders in July 1985, the year the soap launched. In January 2008, she became the first soap actor to carry an entire episode solo, which drew more than 8.8 million viewers.
