EastEnders veteran June Brown has announced she is leaving her role as Dot Cotton.
The 93-year-old has been a regular in Albert Square for 35 years, but she is finally saying goodbye to the BBC soap, hinting she hasn't been very happy with their storylines.
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Speaking on podcast Distinct Nostalgia, she said: "I did make up a limerick, but it's a bit dirty, really. I went back to do a good story. Alas and alack, when I got back it had gone up in smoke.
"I got a small part, a very small part. And that ended up as a big, wet fart. Alas and alack, I will never go back." Yikes.
Beloved Dot hasn't appeared on the show since January, bowing out as she told Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) that she had moved to Ireland.
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While bosses at the soap said the door would always be open for Dot's return, she said: "It's almost as if I've been bereaved. I don't want a retainer for EastEnders.
"I've left for good. I've sent myself to Ireland and that's where she'll stay. I've left EastEnders."
Describing the strange feeling of adapting to life away from the show, June added: "I've played two people simultaneously for 35 years. Really Dot wasn't me, but spiritually she probably was."
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Dot Cotton first appeared in EastEnders in July 1985 as Nasty Nick's mother.
But over the years she developed a nationally adored character in her own right, and leaves as the soap's longest running character.
The actress temporarily left the soap between 1993 and 1997, but other than that she has hardly left Walford for more than a six month stint.
Brown's announcement runs alongside the soap's 35th anniversary, which will see a major character killed off.
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We'll miss you Dot! Walford won't be the same without you...
Featured Image Credit: BBCTopics: TV News, Eastenders, TV Entertainment