John Altman on June Brown’s decision to quit EastEnders

Actor speaks out on the departure of his on-screen ‘ma’.

“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 told The Sun. “Number two I don’t think she was getting the best of storylines.”

His comments would appear to back up the reasons Brown gave for withdrawing from the saga back in February. The veteran performer told DistinctNostalgia podcast that she had left her iconic role as Dot Cotton because a ‘big storyline’ had turned into a ‘wet fart’.

“She’s very much a diehard professional in the business and she wasn’t getting quite what she was,” Altman continued. “She wasn’t very impressed by some of the writing she was getting.”

The actor, who played Dot’s wayward son Nick on a recurring basis between 1985-2015, added that the decision to recast the role of Dot’s granddaughter Dotty had also not sat well with Brown nor himself.

Molly Conlin as Dotty Cotton in 2008

Milly Zero took over the role of Dotty last year

“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. 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.” – John Altman

The BBC have said the door is open for June to reprise her role as Dot, and that as far as they were aware, she was on an ‘as and when’ contract joining the storyline when a plot suited the actress.

June’s other credits include Coronation Street, Gentle To Nora and The Duchess Of Duke Street.