EastEnders’ Dot, 89, says work ‘keeps her alive’

EASTENDERS actress June Brown said she does not want to retire because she thinks that stopping working is what “kills you”.

Brown, who turns 90 on Thursday, has been a fixture of the BBC soap as Dot Cotton – now Dot Branning – since the programme’s inception in 1985.

She has become a British cultural icon, having won several awards during her decades-long career, as well as being awarded an MBE in 2008 for her services to drama and charity.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Brown said that still being part of the programme keeps her “alive”, but she fears losing her independence as she ages.

Asked by host Kirsty Young how she keeps her energy levels up to act, Brown said: “I haven’t really got very much now but I find when I get on set, my energy comes.

“It’s like people can go on stage and break an ankle and they don’t notice till they come off. But as soon as I get on the stage it’s as if I have energy.

“I can be feeling like death warmed up when I come in, and then I’m alive. It keeps me alive.”

She said that work is a reason to get up in the morning, particularly for people of an advanced age.

“I think that’s why a lot of people are very lonely and get ill when they’re older, because I think loneliness and having no motivation, nothing to work towards ... I think it kills you,” she told Young.