June Brown has signed a new monthly deal on EastEnders.
The 92-year-old actress has put pen to paper on a new contract to keep playing Dot Cotton – who she has portrayed since 1985 – but it is said she went for a monthly option to give her the opportunity to have some time off if needs be.
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A source said: “June is EastEnders and EastEnders is June. The bosses are delighted she wants to stay and she has shown no signs that her powers are on the wane.
“But she is not getting any younger and she didn’t want to commit to another 12-month deal.
“This way June gets to call the shots while staying in the show.”
EastEnders bosses were said to have been “happy to accommodate” June’s wishes.
The source added to the Daily Star newspaper: “They were happy to accommodate her wishes. No one can imagine the soap without her.”
In April, June revealed she cannot go out socially anymore because she is suffering from sight-losing condition macular degeneration.
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And in May, she admitted her poor eyesight means she struggles to read the scripts and her memory isn’t what it once was.
She said: “It’s a bit difficult in a way. They do my scripts in font … It means you don’t have the whole play, you only have your part and two lines.
“You see, I have a visual memory – or had – and I could read and it twice and I’d know it. So I have to learn everything now with my eyes, but it’s not so easy.”
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