Queen Vic landlady Peggy’s right royal send-off

Phil helps carry coffin, front left, Dame Barbara as Peggy, above, and daughter Sam at the funeral EASTENDERS characters have come together for emotional scenes to film Peggy Mitchell’s funeral.

The fictional Walford matriarch was being laid to rest on camera this week following a “battle with cancer”.

Very much alive Dame Barbara Windsor, who played the part of Peggy, Britain’s most famous pub landlady, for more than 20 years, described the footage as the show’s most “heartbreaking” ever.

Viewers saw her back at the Queen Vic earlier this week with news that her cancer had returned and spread to her brain. She will have an on-screen reunion with her sons, Phil, played by Steve McFadden, and Grant, played by Ross Kemp, before her fictional death next week.

For the funeral footage Peggy was given a fitting send-off with a horse-drawn hearse. McFadden and Danniella Westbrook, who plays daughter Sam, were seen looking sombre as they filmed.

“Phil” helped carry her coffin along with relative Billy Mitchell, played by actor Perry Fenwick.