Goodbye, DOT...

 The locals bid farewell to a Walford legend

EastEnders has aired some moving episodes over the years, but this might just top the lot. Matriarch Dot Branning, née Cotton, who spent over three decades washing folks’ dirty laundry and dispensing advice – often with a ciggy in one hand and a tomato juice in the other – has passed away, and it’s time for her friends and family to say goodbye.

Sonia has overseen the funeral arrangements, and she’s in a spin on the morning of the service as she still hasn’t written the eulogy. Reminiscing with Jack, Ricky and cousin Lauren, who is back especially for the send-off, she admits she has writer’s block.

Using Dot’s spare key, she lets herself into the launderette, hoping it will give her some inspiration. Martin finds her in bits, and gives her some sensible advice: speak from the heart.

Curtains are closed and the locals line the streets as Dot leaves Walford for the last time, and it soon transpires that Lauren isn’t the only former resident paying her respects. Colin Russell returns to his old stomping ground, along with Lofty Holloway, Mary Smith and Disa O’Brien.

Lord Michael Cashman, who plays Colin, says: ‘Dot represented a particular type of woman who saw the world in black and white. She couldn’t abide injustice or hypocrisy, and her faith got her through things.

‘She was one of the women you see down the market, their coat clutched to them, their bag even closer, going about their business,  just wanting a nice, quiet, easy life. Of course, she never had it, but whatever the world threw at her, she didn't roll over. She took it and challenged it.