Barbara Windsor - Peggy Mitchell

Steve McFadden has admitted that he understands Barbara Windsor's reasons for quitting EastEnders.

Windsor announced last October that she was leaving her role as Peggy Mitchell. McFadden, who plays her on-screen son Phil, told RTÉ that he had been "sad" to hear the news.

"Barbara told me quite early on and although I was sad to hear that she would be going, I completely understood her reasons," he said. "EastEnders is a great place to work and Barbara has given it 16 years of her life, but I think she deserves to put her feet up for a bit."

He added: "On her last day it was strange knowing that she wouldn't be filming up here again but Barbara is a great friend so we will always stay in touch."

Windsor's final scenes, which she filmed in July, will air this week.

Barbara Windsor leaves EastEnders this week, but whether she goes out in a blaze of glory, or just a blaze, remains to be seen.

But bereft fans won't have to wait too long to see the queen of the Vic again as, just 15 minutes later, she will emerge over on ITV1 as the, er, queen of bingo.

The actress, who says goodbye to Peggy Mitchell after 16 years, fronts a new ad campaign for bingo website Jackpotjoy.com.

It will see her use the giggle she made famous during her Carry On days.

Barbara Windsor said she was "thrilled" with her new role, adding: "EastEnders marks the end of one of the happiest chapters of my life but I'm really excited about the future - the giggle is back for good. Long live the 'Queen of Bingo'!"

She's obviously feeling lucky.


Bet shes glad she has found something in keeping with her acting talent

EastEnders star Barbara Windsor has revealed that she loved her character Peggy Mitchell's exit from Albert Square.

The actress, who bowed out of the BBC One soap on Friday after 16 years, told the Daily Star Sunday that her final scenes were "beautifully written" and admitted that she is glad Peggy was not killed off.

She said: "I absolutely loved what EastEnders did with my exit. Bryan Kirkwood is a very clever producer. He looked at my very first episode and decided my exit should be about Peggy and Phil. My very first scenes were when Phil needed me most.

"Grant had beaten him to a pulp after he discovered he'd been having an affair with his wife Sharon. Since those first scenes Peggy had always believed that Phil needed her. But it turned out that what he needed wasn't her at all. My exit was beautifully written and I really couldn't have asked for a better send-off for Peggy.

"But I have to admit that there were a few weeks quite near the end of my time on the show when I did start to panic. It was after I'd heard about the fire in The Queen Vic, I genuinely thought I was a goner when I heard the news. I thought, that's it, they're going to set fire to me in The Vic."

She added: "I really couldn't bear the thought of Peggy dying. It was bad enough saying goodbye to her after all these years but I like the fact that she's out there somewhere, living her own life and making Phil get on with his."

Barbara Windsor has revealed that she was at home with her husband when she watched her final EastEnders episode for the first time.

On Friday, viewers saw the actress's iconic character Peggy Mitchell bow out of Albert Square after deciding that her departure would be in the best interests of her troubled son Phil.

Speaking on This Morning today, Windsor admitted that her partner Scott Mitchell found Peggy's final scenes emotional to watch as they enjoyed the episode together.

The 73-year-old explained: "[EastEnders] had a special showing, but I didn't want to see it like that - I wanted to see it in the right order. So me and Scott were sitting there with a cup of tea, and he went to pieces, absolutely!

"But I held on. I haven't grieved for it yet. You know why? Because I was still on screen - so I thought, 'Oh, I'm part of it!'"

Windsor also recalled how she kept her decision to leave the BBC soap quiet after sharing the news with her bosses, who were forced to change their plans for the 'Who killed Archie?' reveal.

The actress said: "They didn't want me to tell anybody, so I kept it a secret. That was because it was all changing backstage, and we were getting a new executive producer. Also, I've only just found out that I was going to be the killer of Archie, so I messed the whole storyline up!"

Barbara Windsor has revealed she was given the original Queen Vic bust from the EastEnders pub as her leaving present.

The 73-year-old actress left the soap after playing landlady Peggy Mitchell for 16 years and her dramatic final scenes saw Peggy devastated as her beloved Queen Vic pub burned to the ground.

Barbara revealed on Loose Women on Thursday that when she left the soap she was presented with an enormous memento of her time on the soap.

She said: "There was this great big present all wrapped up in pink. It was the Queen Vic, the original."

It is now on display in a recess off the stairs at her home.

The bust was the murder weapon used to kill Peggy's villainous husband Archie Mitchell. A whodunnit storyline left everyone wondering who the murderer was from a long list of suspects, and the killer finally emerged to be Stacey Branning.

But Barbara revealed it was meant to be Peggy.

She said: "I told them [I wanted to leave] at the wrong time. Unbeknown to me they were getting HD, a new gov'nor and the main thing, I only found out recently, was I was the murderer of Archie. I messed that whole storyline up.

"That's why they kept saying 'can you stay a little bit longer'."

I don't really understand why Barbara's leaving now messed up the "Who killed Archie?" storyline. There's no reason that I can think of why they couldn't have played out Peggy having killed Archie in the nine months since it happened. It could have been the reason she left the Square too.

Dazzle, this is exactly what I was thinking but then again I think old Babs just wants the limelight for this as the writers themselves said they already knew it was Stacey from the very beginning so why would they tell her to stay a bit longer as she was going to be the killer.. I think what babs has said is bull!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Siobhan

Dazzle, this is exactly what I was thinking but then again I think old Babs just wants the limelight for this as the writers themselves said they already knew it was Stacey from the very beginning so why would they tell her to stay a bit longer as she was going to be the killer.. I think what babs has said is bull!

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I agree with you. This sad old has-been realises that without Deadenders she is nothing. She actually beileves all the crap they write about her. National Treasure my ****. The woman is a legend in her own mind. Lets not forget what she did for gangster Ronnie Knight. She allegedly gave him a false alibi. Anyone else would of course have been done for perjury but sadly not the Poison Dwarf. No doubt she will still be polluting our TV screens collecting more awards for the programme that saved her flagging career. Deadenders made Barbara Windsor not the other way about. They call her the Queen of the Vic. For me and Im sure many others Angie was and always will be Queen of the Vic

So, after months of hype, Peggy has finally left East-Enders.
After weaving the storyline for most of the year, we were really intrigued to see how the writers would finish it - what clever twists and turns would they come up with to explain a woman whose raison d'etre is her "faaaaamily" naffing off when two of her kids needed her like never before? (Phil's a crack addict and Peggy only talked Sam out of having her baby adopted a few days before, promising she'd look after it.) Guess the reason they came up with? None. Peggy just left, nonsensically and at complete odds with everything we've learnt about her character over the last 15 years.

She took no money (the pile Roxie gave her was still on the kitchen table when she walked out) and no belongings, as she'd lost everything in a lot-of-fuss-about-nothing-fire, in which no one even got hurt. And, the realistic icing on the true-to-life cake, not one of Peggy's family asked her where she was going, or when she'd be back.

EastEnders - it never lets you down (as long as you don't expect it to be better than Hollyoaks).


From the Daily Mirror

I like Barbara Windsor and she'll always be Queen of the Vic to me. Saying Angie is Queen of the Vic is living in the past.

As for saying she's lying by saying she was going to be Archie's killer, that's an unwarranted thing to say without evidence. Barbara gets lots of accolades - it doesn't mean that she asks for them. The cast and crew obviously love her, going by her recent send-off and the documentary that followed. They wouldn't do so if she was the attention-seeker some people here make her out to be. It may be that she often collects the awards for EE because she's put forward to do so by the rest of the cast and crew, who probably don't want to do it themselves.

Referring to the above article, Peggy didn't leave for no reason. Didn't they notice that the love of Peggy's life, the Queen Vic, had burnt down?