[Scarlett.]

Eastenders (it's another soap, apparently) recently gave over an entire half hour episode to a monologue: one woman speaking into a tape recorder, recording a message for her husband in hospital. The Mirror's Jim Shelley said the episode was "as powerful and poignant a piece of drama as you will see on TV all year, and destined to be showered with prizes."

The character delivering the monologue was Dot Cotton, and the actress who played her was June Brown. And, back in 1970, June Brown appeared in Coronation Street. In 1970 she played "Mrs Parsons" for three episodes. Mrs Parsons was the mother of Tony Parsons (no, not the writer, do keep up), a musically gifted boy whom Ena Sharples took under her wing.

June Brown was born in 1927 and has had a varied career in television, stage and film acting. She joined Eastenders in 1985, and in the 31 January episode became the first and so far only actress to carry an entire episode single handed in the history of British soap. You can watch part of the episode here.

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