June Brown

The lovely June Brown, better known as EastEnders’ chain smoking matriarch Dot Cotton, tells Nadine Hawkins why she can now speak her mind and why the smoking ban has ruined her life.

June Brown, more commonly known as the beloved Dot Cotton, was born in Suffolk in 1927. She was born into an originally affluent family who later lost their wealth. In 1950 she married the actor John Gardley who committed suicide. She remarried actor Robert Arnold and went on to have six children, one of whom was born prematurely and died shortly after birth.
The couple were together for 45 years, until Robert died in 2003. During the Second World War she was evacuated to Wales, later becoming a Wren. She went on to train at the Old Vic Drama School, to realise her dream as an actress. As well as being a key part of arguably one of the country’s best-known soaps, she has also had a successful career in theatre and film. She has also made several forays into directing.

June was awarded an MBE for her services to drama and charities in the Queen’s birthday honours earlier this year.

Dot first appeared in EastEnders in July 1985 and  worked in the launderette for most of that time along with her best friend Pauline Fowler. Dot left the show in 1993 for four years when she moved away with her son Nick Cotton and his family and returned in 1997. Dot is best known for her devout Christian faith, spouting quotes from the bible to anyone who needs a reality check or advice. She is also know for her addiction to menthol cigarettes.

Dot married conman husband Charlie Cotton with whom she had her only son Nick, who also had several run-ins with the law.
We caught up with the frankly hilarious June, at a garden party held in her honour at the home of her close friend John Manning, after she launched the Real Radio Duck Race.

How has the character of Dot changed over the years?
I tried to keep her the same, although I suppose people do change over the years. Personally, I much preferred it when she was selfish and mean. Pauline would ask her for a favour, for example to cover a shift in the laundrette, and Dot would say, “Oh no! I have to go and see Doctor Legg!” Now Dot is like Mother Theresa, but you know people quite like it. I get children writing in asking her to be their grandmother.

Having played a character for so long, do you find yourself merging into Dot?
When I look back at my first episode I see bits of me, but mostly I keep it separate. Other than the smoking we don’t have a huge amount in common.

They did a tape for me when I left in 1993 – The Best of Dot Cotton it was called. I decided to leave because I got another acting job with ITV and you can’t do that if you’re with the BBC. I cut my hair like Gareth Gates. But it got postponed so I thought I would just pop back to EastEnders for a short while and raise my profile a little bit, and then blow me what do you know, the other job didn’t come off! I have found myself stuck back in EastEnders and I haven’t got out since! [She says cackling raucously]

Will you ever leave?
Maybe I would be tempted to leave if something lovely and really different came up. They aren’t using me and they haven’t been for six months – I am getting rather bored with it all. It’s because John had his stroke (Dot’s on-screen partner Jim had a stroke in real life preventing him from being in the soap over the past few months) – well that’s the excuse they give me anyway. But he is coming back; mid August is his first episode. His speech is still slurred and he is walking with a stick but he is improving all the time. So what you see on the telly in August won’t be how he is at that point – he will be much better in real life. I am ever so pleased that he is recovering. You have to take your time with these things, it takes a while to get back to normal.

You were the first actress in soap history to carry an entire episode yourself and it received rave reviews – did you feel under a lot of pressure?
Well you know I am just very clever! [She cackles again] That will sound very conceited, don’t put that, in fact just put it in and say that I said it laughingly. [Cue more laughing]. It’s easy! I am so used to it. It sounds conceited but it’s easier to do that than an episode where you have one line here and there. Or even worse where you are just in the background.

That episode that you are talking about was very well written by Tony Jordan. It makes a huge difference if you are working with good writers. The writers at EastEnders are excellent just now. Tony said to me, “If you want to change anything that’s fine.” Originally he had me as a contemporary of Ethel but Dot was 15 years younger. So when Ethel was out hitching up her skirt and saying, “How are you doing soldier? Show’s your war wound,” Dot would have been three. So instead of us being the same age, we had me watching her from the window and sitting on the step of the Vic waiting for her mum. Dot would peek through the door of the Queen Vic pub, to see Ethel sitting on the piano practically showing next weeks washing! That made more sense to me.

But it was easy to do that episode; you only have to worry about your own dialogue and pauses. No one else is there to mess it up for you. I feel a fraud with that episode when people come up to me and say, “Oh you did ever so well!” It sounds so conceited to say it was easy but if something is well written and you know the history it really is easy.

How do you feel about the way soap has changed over the years? It has got more explicit...
It is very difficult to answer that. Let me think about it. [June takes a long puff of her cigarette, terrifyingly like Dot] I do feel strongly about how soap has changed over the years. I know society is different and Shakespeare said, “When you are acting you are holding a mirror up to nature”. You are portraying what is going on at that point but I think that it is maybe our job to hold back a little and not go blindly.

EastEnders started as such a nostalgic programme and that’s what stood it apart from other soaps on at the time. Back when the soap started, everyone used to leave their back door open and their front door unlocked but obviously times have changed and people can’t do that anymore, you can’t leave your bike outside your house for example. The society that we live in has completely changed.

Even although we had challenging storylines like when Michelle discovered she was pregnant and there were four potential fathers in the frame, it was for a reason. She was a young girl, her mum had just had a baby boy and her nose was out of joint, she wanted attention. But nowadays everyone is having affairs here, there and everywhere and it doesn’t seem to have any reason behind it. It is immoral or amoral as they say.

Soaps nowadays have everyone falling off cliffs, stabbing and shooting each other. I wish they had the courage to go back, and show proper friendships and marriages that actually do work because sometimes, I think that writers have lost sight of that. Proper families and good marriages do actually still exist in today’s society. It needs someone to have the courage to say ‘stop’ and go back to how it should be. I think that’s why they never let me accept the prizes at these award ceremonies. Actually, now I think about it, they probably think, ‘‘don’t let her go up – who knows what she will say!’’

What makes a good actress?
It’s important to have different facets to your character. I have been acting for over 60 years. I remember when I was at the Old Vic Theatre run by Laurence Olivier and I was working with Dame Faith Evans, back then I was a very dramatic young actress. She said to me, (talking about acting) “It’s like music dear, don’t just walk in and drop a line, have tone in your voice.” There is no music in people’s voices nowadays; you need to emphasis certain words like you do in conversations. I don’t think people really understand what method acting actually is. It is about depicting conversations how they actually happen.

Who are you closest to on the show?
Barbara Windsor. We have been there for so long and seen so many actors come and go. She is a very dear friend to me; and people often don’t know this, but she is a very clever lady. She is terribly funny too, we will be walking up to the set on EastEnders and she calls out to people, “Hello my darling, how are you?” I’ll say to her, “Who on earth is that?” And she will reply, “I haven’t got a clue darling!”

I once gave her an award through my work for the Michael Elliot Trust of which I am president. It is based in Derbyshire and is called Freshfields. It is a charity that rescues donkeys and works with children with disabilities. It is really good for them – they walk the donkeys and groom them – its marvellous!

I am also very close to John Bardon who plays Jim Branning. I normally stay with him and his wife at least once a week, we will have a nice meal and possibly even a couple of drinks. His wife makes a marvellous gin and tonic. We even went on holiday together. None of that threesome stuff it was all very pure and innocent. I always say to John, ‘He has two wives!’ We are all great friends.

A lesser-known fact is that you have made several forays into directing?
I did a play at the Edinburgh Festival; I used my own money to put it on. It got really good reviews too. Lots of people said I should do it again and I would if someone else invested in it!

I do like directing. I also directed Double D at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden, and a play at the Kings Head Theatre in Islington.
Years ago I got a letter years ago from a 14-year-old boy his name is Matthew Westwood, who had tried his hand at script writing. I showed it to Gretchen Franklin who played Ethel, a very clever lady also and she said, “The boy has a gift for dialogue.” I really trusted her judgment so I kept my eye on him over the years and tried to support his work. He has since written for Hollyoaks and Emmerdale. In fact, here’s a little exclusive: he is writing a play for me now. I shan’t say anymore than that!

Do you like Dot?
If she were my neighbour she would drive me crazy always sticking her nose in other people’s business. I left because I didn’t like what they were doing with Dot – she was meant to spread the gossip. Originally she was a fountain of knowledge then next thing I know, people are telling Dot what had been happening and I thought, ‘No, this just won’t do’. I was very annoyed, I felt like they had completely changed my character. But they know why I left; I am not blotting my copybook by saying that. Well at least I don’t think I am! [Breaks into raucous laughter.] When you get to my age you can say what you like anyway. It is one of the perks of being very old like I am now!

Do you wear a wig on EastEnders?
Of course I do darling! Everyone knows that! So does Barbara, its not good for your hair constantly getting done and redone. I used to just let them do my hair but I haven’t let them touch it for years now.

Is religion important to you outwith the show?
Yes it is. When I was a child, Jesus was a role model to children. Everyone went to Sunday School. When I had my children I used to sing hymns to them at bedtime. (At this point in the interview June has lost her cigarettes and breaks into a panic followed by disgust when someone offers her a different brand. Calmness is restored as she discovers another pack of her menthol cigarettes.)

You look great for your age how do you manage to look so young?
I take Omega three, six and nine, and I take folic acid. Folic acid is good for the cells, so they say. And I eat lots of eggs. They are always saying, ‘Don’t eat eggs they are bad for you’ but I love them so who cares? I am 81 – they can’t be that bad for you. I love coffee too. At home I have got a microwave – I don’t really use it much as I don’t think they are good for, you those waves – but I use it to heat up my coffee. I love coffee but I am always letting it go cold.

You mustn’t believe you are old, none of this struggling to get out a seat. Look at me I am 81 and I leap up! (June demonstrates). My mother was 35 for years! I am a big believer in positive thoughts if you think bad things happen they will, you should alway think positively and then good things will happen to you.

Do you actually smoke on the programme?
Well I try to, but it always seems just as I put the cigarette to my lips I have to say something or react to what has been said. It sounds strange but it is actually very difficult to smoke and act.

Do you worry about how smoking affects your health?
I have a cover for my cigarettes so I don’t see this bit. (She points to the ‘Smoking Kills’ warning sign on the packet.) You should never think negatives or they will happen. If you read that your subconscious will say, ‘Oh you want cancer do you? Here you go!’ I am not an inhaler anyway I am a puffer. It doesn’t go past my throat. Mind you, I suppose the cancer can get you there too. I am not thinking about it! I remember when I started smoking I was 16, I said to my boyfriend, “Look! Look! I can do it!” then I went straight to the toilet and was sick. I haven’t inhaled since.

That smoking ban has ruined my life. I hibernate in the winter now. You can’t smoke anywhere without getting pneumonia. Everyone is worried about dying nowadays. I am 81, who cares how much longer I live really? When my husband was in hospital I was outside having a cigarette and this young man about 17 or so said to me, “You shouldn’t smoke it’s bad for you”. I said, “You should live so long!” Cheeky beggar! My husband died a couple of days later.

I once threw 18 fags in the fire and stopped smoking for a year because I read it was bad for your skin. Never mind all this illness, you have to think of your face darling.

[And with that she pats me on the head and says, “My what a pretty little thing you are” and disappears back to the party in a cloud of menthol smoke.]

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