Bye-bye, Saucy!
Laughter and tears as stars give Babs a final send-off
TEARFUL stars said their final goodbyes to Dame Barbara Windsor yesterday at a small but emotional funeral for the star.
Close friends Ross Kemp, David Walliams, Matt Lucas and Christopher Biggins were among those seen arriving for the 45-minute ceremony.
Due to Covid restrictions, just 30 maskwearing mourners were allowed to attend. Dame Barbara’s husband Scott Mitchell was at the head of the cortege and greeted guests at the entrance to the Golders Green Crematorium in north London.
The Carry On and EastEnders actress died last month aged 83 after a six-year battle with dementia.
Floral bouquets in the hearse spelled out ‘Babs’, ‘The Dame’ and ‘Saucy’ – her catchphrase from the Carry On films – while a mock pub sign showed her as Queen Peggy in tribute to her two decades playing pub landlady Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders.
The coffin was carried into the service to the strains of Frank Sinatra’s On The Sunny Side of the Street and the hymns Jerusalem and The Lord Is My Shepherd were played.
Kemp, 56, Biggins, 72, and Dame Barbara’s best friend Anna Karen, 84 – Olive in On the Buses and a fellow Carry On co-star – read out eulogies at the ceremony.
The star’s 58-year-old husband shared the order of service so all those who were unable to attend due to the pandemic could feel involved.
It included pictures from her career – with a still of her famous bikini-popping scene from Carry On Camping on the back page, captioned with her quote: ‘ That picture will follow me to the end.’
Mr Mitchell said: ‘As Covid has denied so many of Barbara’s family, friends and fans a chance to say farewell properly, I wanted to share the order of service to let people be a small part of it. My heart goes out to every family who have experienced the same restrictions at their loved ones’ funerals.’
Dame Barbara’s recording of Sparrows Can’t Sing from her 1963 film of the same name was played as the recessional music.
The actress was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014 and she and her husband were praised for their work raising awareness of the condition. An online condolences page in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK has raised more than £150,000. Mr Mitchell said that was ‘ beyond anything we may have dreamed of’.
Born a true Cockney in the East End in 1937 to a barrow boy father and dressmaker mother, Dame Barbara’s real life was as colourful as some of her roles, and she was romantically linked with gangster Reggie Kray before marrying first husband, club owner and convicted criminal Ronnie Knight.
She also had a well-publicised affair with co-star Sid James.
Her first film appearance was in The Belles of St Trinian’s in 1954, before she became a household name in the Sixties with her infec
tious giggle and ‘Saucy!’ catchphrase in the Carry On films.
She appeared in nine of the comedies but became typecast, limiting her later roles until she landed the part of the Mitchell family matriarch Peggy in EastEnders in 1994.
She was at the heart of many of the soap’s storylines, notably when her character contracted breast cancer and she wrote many letters of advice to viewers who contacted her about their own struggles with the disease.
The show paid tribute to her last week with a caption on the end credits saying: ‘In loving memory of Dame Barbara Windsor MBE.’