I was shattered to hear about the death of Barbara Windsor yesterday. For me
she's an icon, an essential part of British culture. She's known for two
phases in her career. From 1964 to 1974 she was a comedy actress in the Carry
On films, typecast as a dumb blonde. From 1994 to 2016 she appeared in the TV
soap
"Eastenders"
as Peggy Mitchell, the matriarch of the Mitchell family and owner of the local
pub, the Queen Vic. All British soaps are centred on a pub, so she was the
main character for most of these years, until the character finally died of
cancer in 2016.
In the 20 years between Carry On and Eastenders, she disappeared from the
limelight. Her career was in a slump. She played minor roles on television,
and she appeared in Christmas pantomimes. This is dealt with in the biopic
"Babs".
After hearing about her death I wanted to watch "Babs", but to my horror I
found it was missing from my DVD collection. I forgot that I'd only watched it
on Iplayer. Silly me. I quickly ordered it from Amazon, and I hope to receive
it within a few days, if Christmas hasn't slowed the post down too much.
Since I didn't have any films starring Barbara Windsor available, I watched
the 1973 Carry On Christmas Special, in which she plays a 13-year-old girl
visiting Santa's grotto. If you think that Sid James looks nervous, just
wait until she starts bouncing on his lap. She was actually 33 at the time,
but she makes a good schoolgirl.
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Barbara Windsor 6 August 1937 – 10 December 2020 |
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