EastEnders, BBC One, review: Dot Branning’s funeral marks the end of the soap era

The curtain has fallen on the almighty age east side Last night, actors past and present gathered to say goodbye to Dot Branning, perhaps Albert Square’s most extraordinary character.

It was a fitting tribute to Dot and her actress June Brown, who died in April of that year. Brown has brought her character to life in a unique way in a whopping 35 years on the show—since its early days. east side back in 1985 and continued until she left the soap for good in 2020.

The lines between these two equally cheerful and wonderful women were blurred accordingly, and Brown’s real-life children Sophie, Nim and Billy even took part in church scenes in Dot’s Goodbye.

An elegiac atmosphere reigned on the air – this episode marked farewell not just to a character, but to an entire era of British television.

As the people of the square gathered to remember, we saw photos of Dot in her element, smoking Wendy Richard as Pauline Fowler and gossiping with her accomplice Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin). It took me back to a time when these characters were as familiar in our living rooms as members of our own family, when the names of the actors were known from generation to generation, and important national conversations were devoted to the noise of Albert Square.

Dot’s departure was surprisingly calm and unhurried. While others laughed at Dot’s adventures (including ordering “alternative tea” only to discover it was cannabis infused), her granddaughter Sonia (Natalie Cassidy) had to take the brunt of her grief and break out of the old laundry room. Dot inspired by stew. . , and panic at the burden of properly honoring her grandmother’s memory in her eulogy. “I stayed up half the night trying to think of something to say,” she began.

She didn’t have to worry. Her sweet speech explaining how heartbreaking it would be to forget her grandmother – “It hurts me to think that she believed no one would miss her” – prompted people in the community to post their own memories of Dot, which they shared, and again did it. it is clear to the audience what an extraordinary person she was.

There was Michael Cashman, who hadn’t been on the court since 1989, when his role as Colin Dots defied initial homosexual confusion and she turned into his girlfriend. There was Linda Davidson from the same era, whose Mary Punk character saw Dot always reaching out to bums and bums. Letitia Dean, Gillian Tailforth… everyone had something to say, and it was unexpectedly touching. As Martin Fowler put it, “She loved many people. Many people immediately fell in love with her.”

There was some soap opera-worthy drama as Ian Beal hid out of sight of the other characters and actor Adam Woodyatt briefly returned to say goodbye to Dot. And Tom Watts’ long-absent Lofty only made it to the service after going to the wrong church, a fiasco that would no doubt have caused Dot to purse her lips.

But it was really about the man and the emotional weight he carried for a surprisingly long time. When Dot was finally lowered into her grave, miraculously joined by a pile of brushwood, it was clear we would never see her like this again, both because of the character and the TV era she reigned in.