It’s Ab Fab in a care home Dame June moved in so she ’s not lonely
BABS: I MISS WORKING AT CHRISTMAS
TV favourite Barbara Windsor has told how she will miss her usual Christmas spent performing after quitting EastEnders. Dame Barbara, 80, had worked every Christmas since she was 13 – in panto or on the BBC soap. But after asking to be written out last year she COMEDY legend le June Whitfield has h told how she loves life in a care home because beca it means not having havin to worry about her plumbing. The Abso Absolutely Fabulous star is happ happier without the responsib responsibility of owning her own h house. And sh she revealed she finds it fu fun to be sharing her space with other pals. Dame Ju June, 92, was widowed 16 years ago. She said: “I lived on my own in a big house for ten years. Now I have friends where I live and I like it. They’re fun. “I don’t have to worry about things like the roof or the plumber any more.” Dame June, Jun whose Ab Fab character as Edina’s mum is known onl only as Mother, continued: ““I don’t have any particular ro routine. I just do very little. I h have my massage once a wee week. I’m not as admitted: “Christmas isn’t like it used to be. My Christmas used to be panto.
“From the age of 13 I did panto until I got to EastEnders. I liked all those commitments. I haven’t done it for years but I go and see all my mates in it. I love it. We saw Jessie Wallace who was fantastic.”
Barbara – made a Dame by the Queen last year – will spend Christmas with her husband Scott Mitchell going to the theatre and seeing friends.
She joked: “The EastEnders Christmas Special better be good. We’ll be watching it!” Dame Barbara mobile as I’d like to be, but otherwise I’m fine.”
Dame June – a veteran of big and small screen as well as radio and stage – was speaking at the Television and Radio Industry Club’s Christmas Lunch, where she was surprised with a lifetime achievement award.
She said: “I’m absolutely amazed. I wasn’t expecting it. I was just coming for lunch.”
Odd
The star’s last screen role was in 2016’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. And today she admits she misses acting.
She said: “I’ve done it for 70 odd years. If I could I still would.”
Dame June’s TV comedy career had many highlights in a partnership with Terry Scott, which began in 1968. They played husband and wife in Happy Ever After from 1974 to 1978, and joined the soap in 1994 as Peggy Mitchell – fiery landlady of the Queen Vic and mum of feuding Phil and Grant Mitchell.
When she decided to quit after 22 years she asked writers to kill off her character.
Fans pine for a return but she says she’s “too old fashioned” for today’s TV bosses.
Babs, who became a household name thanks to the Sixties Carry On films, said: “My life is different now. It took me a long time to get used to it because all of a sudden you look at your age and go, ‘Oh Christ, I’m followed that up with Terry and June for the next 18 years.
But she also had roles in the Carry On films, starting in 1959 with Carry On Nurse, and worked with a string of comedy greats from Tony Hancock to Benny Hill. More recently she starred in Last of the Summer Wine, had a regular role in Only Fools followup The Green Green Grass and appeared in EastEnders as a nun.
Calling herself “a dedicated royalist” June said: “I remember the Queen coming to the throne.
“I’m six months older than her but we’ve both been around about the same time as each other.
“To me, the Queen is unique. How she carries on I don’t know. She walks around for hours. Her energy and focus is admirable.”
Dame June’s husband Tim Aitchison died in 2001 after a 45-year marriage. Their daughter, Suzy, is also an actress. But June fears today’s TV lacks “fun and lightheartedness”.
She said: “I can’t stand Get Me Out of Here with all those creepy crawlies.
“And I’m not that mad about steamies, where everyone has to have a sex scene. Gone With The Wind managed without it.
“I watched the Paddington Bear film the other day and I came out smiling. That’s what TV should be about.” getting older’. I do like to perform but I don’t do it so much now. I suddenly thought, ‘No, I won’t do it now’.
“Let them see me in Carry On films and they’ll still think I’m like that.”
Last week she presented her old pal Dame June Whitfield with a Television and Radio Industry Club Lifetime Achievement Award.
June appeared in the soap as Peggy’s sister soon after she was killed off.
As she handed her the gong, Babs joked: “I was so thrilled when you joined. If I’d known you were coming in I would’ve stayed.”