Lord Michael Cashman felt ‘humbled’ to be invited back to EastEnders for Dot Branning’s funeral

Lord Michael Cashman has said that he felt “humbled” to be asked to return to EastEnders for Dot Branning’s funeral.

June Brown OBE MBE, 95, passed away in April, and the soap will bid farewell to her iconic character later this month.

In last night’s episode, news reached Albert Square that Dot had passed away in Ireland. Upcoming scenes will show Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) set about planning a fitting send-off for her grandmother with the help of ex-husband Martin and friends and neighbours who were fond of Dot.

Actor-turned-UK Labour Party peer Michael Cashman is among the names that the Beeb saga has lured back for the on-screen tribute.

Cashman, who first played Colin Russell in the show between 1986-1989, said of reprising the role:

“When I got the first message asking if I’d be interested in returning, it was an unequivocal, unqualified ‘yes’. “I couldn’t imagine Colin not being at his amazing friend Dot’s funeral and I couldn’t imagine not being there for June. She created a television icon that will stretch beyond the test of time. I had to be there and I was humbled that they thought of me.”

He described Brown as “the ultimate professional” and said her legacy would be “to show what brilliant work and commitment can achieve”.

Cashman previously made a one-off return to the soap in 2016 as his character tried to persuade Dot to attend his same-sex wedding. Dot had reservations, but was talked into attending. After initially opposing Colin’s sexuality, she had grown fond of him during the early days of the soap.

Airing on Monday 12th December, the special funeral episode will also feature appearances from George “Lofty” Holloway played by Tom Watt, Mary “The Punk” Smith played by Linda Davidson and Disa O’Brien portrayed by Jan Graveson.

Graveson, whose character runaway Disa was helped by Dot, said it was important to return to film the funeral “because seeing Dot off means seeing June off again”.

She noted: 

“When I think of June, I think of Dot, and when I think of Dot, I think of June because she invoked so much of herself in that character. It’s eerie. She was amazing at it. I hit it off and became very good friends with June from working on EastEnders. Our friendship lasted until the very end. I was extremely close to her because she was a one-off and very extrovert, and we had the same birthday, which she always talked about.

“In times of trouble in my life, I’ve gone to June, stayed over at her house, and she’s let me be there for days. I’ve done a lot of work for animal welfare and June came to all of those events with me. She was a brilliant human being.”

Jacqueline Jossa, who played Dot’s step-granddaughter Lauren, said there had been a special mood during filming.

“No one can say a bad word about June and we really felt that when we were filming. It was also a send-off to June as much as it was for Dot. It was a bittersweet moment as we were all sharing stories and there was so much laughter.”

Linda Davidson described the character of Dot as “perfection”.

“Dot was very resilient and she was also the matriarch of the show. She was the glue between the characters and grounded a lot of the storylines. She had those threads all the way around the community. Dot was also like June herself, terribly loyal as a friend like with Ethel and Lou and Mary, of course.”