Former EastEnders star Ricky Norwood reveals Dot Cotton actress June Brown broke the rules by smoking on set – but no one wanted to tell her off
The actor was sacked from the show in 2015, but Ricky insists a storyline with Dot Cotton would be his dream Albert Square return
EASTENDERS star Ricky Norwood has revealed the funniest thing about working with Dot Cotton actress June Brown.
The actor revealed the hilarious moment the soap veteran, 91, broke a huge smoking rule on set and said: “Nobody was going to tell June anything.”
Ricky, who played Fat Boy for five years, couldn’t believe what he saw when working with the June, who has been in the show since 1985.
Spilling the beans about working alongside her, he gushed that she was “cheeky.”
Speaking exclusively to , the Fatboy actor said: “This is an example of June, okay? When the smoking ban came in, when it first hit…June smokes, and I remember us walking into the bar for lunch.
“Now this is maybe two days in, and the first thing she does is spark a cigarette.”
He said: “And it was hilarious because you’ve got everyone kind of looking, but nobody was gonna tell June anything.”
Hinting that the long-standing soap star could do what she liked because of her legendary status, Ricky added: “It’s June’s house. It might be called the BBC, but you might as well call it June Brown.”
“She’s an amazing, amazing actress. I’m so happy I got to work alongside her for so long.”
Meanwhile, Ricky also spilled his thoughts on whether his character, Arthur ‘Fatboy’ Chubbs, would ever return – amid speculation that he hadn’t actually died after all.
The actor played the role from 2010, until he was axed from the show after a Skype video leaked online of him masturbating in 2015.
Although his character was killed off, he’d like to return for a storyline to centre around Dot, as they worked closely together.
Refusing to rule out the possibility that Fatboy was still alive somewhere, Ricky added: “I mean, it’s EastEnders and if you’re a fan of EastEnders then you’ll know that there are many characters that have died and come back.
“So, you know, anything is possible. EastEnders is such a big machine, they’re going 100 different directions right now.
“They know my number, I’m still a friend of the family there. There aint no hate, there aint no animosity.”
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