EE: June Brown's one-gran show

Post by **Skylace** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:04 pm

I am with antonia and Aja. Just a great show all around. She is an amazing actress. She owned the screen and just showed the caliber of her art.

I had tears as well. For me it was liking watching something on stage, not just television. Bravo from me as well!

Lostinthestates · Post by **Lostinthestates** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:14 pm

I am sorry but I couldn't watch it! I skipped the show after 5 minutes ..

Aja · Post by **Aja** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:45 pm

Just wondering ....did anyone see the DOT special a couple of years back .....It went back to war times and when she was evacuated .....I thought i still had it on my hard drive ...But I must of deleted it ......It was pretty good .....

Post by **Skylace** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:53 pm

I remember that Aja. I enjoyed that as well.

Post by **faceless** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:06 pm

was that the one where they went to Normandy?

Post by **faceless** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:23 pm

Dot's EastEnders monologue: a triumph?
June Brown received rave reviews this morning for her single-handed performance in the BBC1 soap last night.
February 1, 2008
www.timesonline.co.uk

There are not many things that soaps haven't done before, but a whole episode devoted to just one character was one of them. Until last night, that is it, when June Brown left viewers reaching for the Kleenex with a Talking Heads-style monologue on EastEnders.

The 80-year-old actor received rave reviews this morning for her 28-minute long take on life as character Dot Branning, or Dot Cotton as she is still almost universally known. The EastEnders stalwart was recording a message for screen husband Jim, laid up in hospital after a stroke, and poetically and emotionally spoke about her life as a child and her best friend Ethel.

However, the sting in the tale came at the end (and if you haven't seen it and plan to iPlayer it, look away now). It wasn't a tape to cheer up Jim but a message to say she didn't want him back.

Robert Hanks in the Independent says Brown "conveyed the seedy gloom of it all beautifully."

I don't ever remember hearing anybody on a soap talk like this before. I mean, like a real person, with real feelings, such as self-pity and a desperate urge for self-preservation.

As The Guardian's Nancy Banks-Smith says, Christian Dot is the soap's "moral compass", but her admission that she didn't love Jim enough to care for him when he came out of hospital was shocking. Despite praising the writing by Tony Jordan and Brown's acting, Banks-Smith didn't believe Dot would do such a thing.

I put it to you that Dot would do the right thing. Yes, I know she murdered Ethel - don't be picky - but she would not break her oath to God. The one about sickness and health.

Gerard O'Donovan in the Daily Telegraph describes Brown's performance as "mesmerising" and that with the passing of Coronation Street's Vera Duckworth, Dot is "just about the last of the great old ladies of soap still stalking our screens." But again, he also has reservations.

Overall, though, the feeling couldn't be avoided that in the greater scheme of things this was a fuss over nothing. Had it been a swan song, it would have been a worthy one. But doubtless Dot will be out and about again tonight, fag in hand, quoting from the Good Book.

Enjoyable as this Albert Square indulgence was, I suspect that most fans will be hoping this one-hander remains a one-off.

And judging by the ratings, maybe the viewers agree - only 8.7million tuned in last night compared to 9.4 million last week.

----------------

I'm surprised the ratings were down, but I must admit I would have turned over after about five minutes if I hadn't been recording it. I agree with the first quote about it being unique in that it showed a real side to the character, but I found that incongruous because so little of it was ever mentioned before. I did think June Brown did it very well though.

Post by **eefanincan** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:45 pm

Skylace wrote:I remember that Aja. I enjoyed that as well.

As did I. It was a good little piece.

Now, I just have to get caught up on my EE episodes this weekend so I can watch this one

School work be damned! I'm watchin' tv

Post by **Skylace** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 10:56 pm

You rebel! You go!

Post by **eefanincan** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 12:56 am

Yah, that's me--- a rebel!

Post by **Skylace** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:02 am

Breaking the law! Breaking the law! What would Dot say?

Post by **eefanincan** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:09 pm

"Ooooooo what would Jesus say? How can you help all the sick people if you don't do your best????? Oooooo I think I feel one of me 'eads comin' on!"

Post by **Skylace** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:03 pm

eefanincan wrote:"Ooooooo what would Jesus say? How can you help all the sick people if you don't do your best????? Oooooo I think I feel one of me 'eads comin' on!"

11antoniacourt · Post by **11antoniacourt** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:44 am

faceless wrote:was that the one where they went to Normandy?

The Normandy episode was Nana and Alfie Moon I think.

SpursFan1902 · Post by **SpursFan1902** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 7:24 pm

I just watched the Dot episode and thought it was lovely. It is the kind of character development that only really is evident with the older characters. The writers stopped giving the characters background because they never stuck around long enough. All of the things she talked about were things from that Dot special or things that you would know from watching the show or just watching how Dot reacts to things. The one thing that I never really put together was the fact that everyone in Dot's life left her in one form or fashion. I never really thought about it, but she is right. No wonder it was so hard for her to open up to Jim, poor old dear. I just love her....OOOhh, I say....

misslisalynn · Post by **misslisalynn** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 3:53 am

I thought June Brown did a fantastic job but I sure wouldn't want them to do another one. I do not agree that she was telling Jim she didn't want him back because she didn't love him enough, I heard her say she wasn't strong enough to have him back but not really be back.