‘EastEnders’ Legend Barbara Windsor Reveals The Physical Effect Of Peggy Mitchell’s Death Storyline

Dame Barbara Windsor has revealed what it was like dealing with the aftermath of her final ‘EastEnders’ storyline, explaining that she became physically ill after bowing out as Peggy Mitchell.

The iconic character was killed off in May 2016 and ahead of a BBC biopic about her life, the actress has admitted she suffered an “emotional fallout” after filming her last scenes.

She told The Sun that while she initially felt “great” after her final stint as part of the cast, “then came the emotional fallout, where I kept thinking about her death, crying a lot and rushing to the loo to be sick”.

Explaining that she sought advice from medical professionals, Barbara added: “They said it was just nervous exhaustion.

“One of them said, ‘Ms Windsor, it’s really not good for you to do storylines like that at your age. What do you expect?’

“Now I look back, it was very draining. After all, Peggy was a part of my life for 22 years. Then, suddenly, she was gone. I was grieving for her, I suppose.”

Thankfully, after some well-earned rest, Barbara’s good health returned.

“I feel much better now but I want people to know about this because I don’t want them to think that I didn’t care about her, “ she continued. 

“I did, very much. So much so that it took me ages to feel ready to actually watch the death scene myself. I still haven’t seen the funeral though.”

The upcoming biopic, ‘Babs’, will see Jaime Winstone and Samantha Spiro playing the actress, and the woman herself also makes a cameo appearance.

Earlier this week, Jaime revealed to Radio Times: “There’s one moment where I’m sitting in the café with her and [first husband] Ronnie Knight and I look across to my older self — real Barbara! — that was very emotional.

“You don’t often get moments when you’re playing a real person and act in a scene with her.”  

‘Babs’ airs on BBC One on Sunday 7 May at 8pm.