Dr Legg returns to EastEnders... at 92
ORIGINAL EastEnders cast member Leonard Fenton is returning to the soap this autumn as Dr Harold Legg.
The 92-year-old actor, who appeared in the first episode of the BBC1 soap in 1985, played the Walford GP until his departure in 1999.
Dr Legg was a close friend of laundrette worker Dot Cotton, played by June Brown, 91, and entertained her hypochondria and endless list of ailments.
He has returned to the show a handful of times for brief appearances, most recently in 2007 when Dot needed his help.
The actor also returned for the funerals of Ethel Skinner and Mark Fowler back in 2000 and 2004.
Discussing his return to the soap, Fenton said: ‘I am very happy to be back and am looking forward to working with June and the rest of the cast and crew again.’
Brown said: ‘It’s been 11 years since Dot last visited her favourite doctor, Dr Legg, and it’s an utter delight to be working with Leonard Fenton again in 2018.’
Earlier this year, EastEnders viewers welcomed the highly anticipated return of Kat Moon, following a two-year break from the show. Actress Jessie Wallace, 46 – who has played the loudmouth, leopard print-wearing character on and off since 2000 – had last been seen in EastEnders in January 2016 before appearing in a spin-off series, Redwater.
Unlike Fenton, Wallace admitted to suffering a bout of nerves ahead of her return to the hit soap.
She said: ‘The first day back on set was quite scary – it was like going back to school and getting my bag prepared with my highlighting pens and my folder and my pencil case.
‘I was really nervous, but as soon as I did the first scene it was just like being home again, on the floor and running.’