Ricky Norwood fought back tears as he paid tribute to his former EastEnders co-star June Brown on This Morning, after her death at the age of 95.
It was Joan's children who announced that the much loved actress, known for playing EastEnders icon Dot Cotton had passed away, in a statement which read: "We are deeply saddened to announce our beloved mother, June, passed away very peacefully at her home in Surrey on Sunday evening, with her family by her side. We would kindly ask that our privacy is respected at this very difficult time.”
EastEnders also confirmed June had died in a social media post which read: "June created one of the most iconic characters in Dot Cotton, not just in soap but in British television, and having appeared in 2,884 episodes, June’s remarkable performances created some of EastEnders’ finest moments. We send all our love and deepest sympathies to June’s family and friends.
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"A very bright light has gone out at EastEnders today but we shall all be raising a sweet sherry in June’s memory. Rest in peace, our dearest June. You will never be forgotten.”
Tribute to June flooded in from fans and her former BBC co-stars and two of those, Diane Parish, who still plays Denise in EastEnders and Ricky, who left the show in 2015 with his character being killed off, appeared on This Morning to share their memories of her.
Speaking candidly about his former co-star, Ricky said: "June was... It's really hard talking about her in the past tense, I've got to tell you."
Dermot said: "Let's not, let's just celebrate who she is," as Alison told Ricky that it was okay to cry, saying "Do you know what, just get it out because it's okay to cry, because the fact that you're crying means how special that women was."
Ricky, who went onto finish second on Celebrity Big Brother after leaving Albert Square behind, replied: "We get to work with people a lot, but when you get to work in close surroundings day in and day out, you do form a bond with each other and with June it was so special because straight away she recognised the character of Fatboy wasn't just about the slang and wasn't just a superficial type of character.
"There were layers that we were trying to put into the character."
