'extraordinary'
Christopher Biggins reveals details of Barbara Windsor’s funeral saying she’d be ‘delighted’ at ‘horror’ over her death
CHRISTOPHER Biggins is "honoured" to be chosen to speak at Dame Barbara Windsor's funeral, admitting she would be thrilled at the attention she received at her passing.
Dame Barbara died last week aged 83, following a six-year battle with Alzheimer's.
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There was an outpouring of national grief over the actress' passing who was best known for her roles in the Carry On films and BBC's EastEnders.
But Christopher has admitted that Dame Barbara would have loved the attention.
"Steph, what I have to say to you is – I wish that when we die, all of us – we had 24 hours looking down to hear what people say about us," he said on Steph's Packed Lunch today.
"Because Barbara would have been thrilled. I have never seen an outcry of horror from everybody that she died.
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"She was the most extraordinary woman and she was a friend of mine for 40 years and she was so special. We went on holiday together and we did shows around the country.
"We've been everywhere. She was extraordinary."
The actor also opened up about feeling "honoured" to be one of the few people allowed to attend her funeral.
"Only 30 people are allowed to attend her funeral next month due to Covid restriction but her TV pal is one of them and will be giving a speech," Christopher explained.
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"I'm very honoured because you can only have 30 people at the funeral, and I am one of the speakers.
"Anna Karen is speaking about her early life, I'm speaking about the middle part of her life and Ross [Kemp] from EastEnders is talking about that part of her life. It will be very, very sad.
"I wish there was a way that we could record it so people can watch it online. It's going to be a terrible day, it's in January but we're all there for him and for her. She was very special."
Christopher also showered Barbara's husband, Scott Mitchell, for looking after the iconic actress as her condition worsened.
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"Her husband Scott is an angel, he's a saint…he has been fantastic and it has been awful for him because with her condition, I didn't realise with Alzheimer's, you forget to eat and you forget to drink so that is how many people die with the condition," the actor gushed.
"But he's [Scott] always been there. Everybody poo-pooed that marriage because they said there was a huge amount of difference between their ages."
Christopher joined one of her other TV pals, Paul O'Grady, to call for a service to be held in memoriam after Covid-19 rules are eased.
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Dame Barbara quit EastEnders in 2016 and made her last film appearance, as the voice of Dormouse in Tim Burton's Alice Through The Looking Glass, in the same year.
Having starred in nine Carry On movies, the actress took to the screen one final time in 2017 in a BBC biopic of her life.
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She married three times in her life, first to nightclub owner Ronnie Knight, Stephen Hollings and Scott Mitchell.
The actress' fans have also launched a social media campaign to have a commemorative statue erected in her home town in Shoreditch, London.
Barbara Windsor in Carry On movie scenes with co-star Sid James
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