EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy reveals disgusting advice June Brown gave her for Sonia’s iconic labour scenes
NATALIE Cassidy has revealed the disgusting advice she received from EastEnders co-star June Brown for an iconic scene in the BBC soap.
Viewers of The Great Festive Bake Off saw a battle of the soaps this year, with stars taking part from EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
At one point Natalie – who plays Sonia Fowler in the BBC soap – revealed how she’d turned to the late, great June Brown when preparing for her iconic birth scene on the show aged just 15.
The revelation came as she was talking to Bake Off host Alison Hammond who asked Natalie about her favourite storylines from Walford’s past.
Whilst still concentrating on her yule log topping, Natalie immediately came back with: “It’s got to be giving birth on the sofa, I was only fifteen.”
Alison gasped: “Ah, obviously you’d never had a kid, how did you do your research?”
Natalie went into character with her hand holding an imaginary cigarette, June Brown’s signature look.
She replied: “I had June Brown, Dot Cotton, and she went ‘darling, it’s like pooing a melon’ and that was all the info I needed.”
The birth in question aired back in October 2000 after Sonia had slept with Martin Fowler.
The teenager had no idea she was pregnant and the birth of her daughter, Bex, on the sofa at home came as a surprise to her and her shocked new boyfriend Jamie Mitchell.
The baby was eventually delivered by Big Mo after hearing Sonia’s screams through the wall.
The Bake Off based reminder of June – who died in April 2022 – was the first of several in the festive version of the competition, and she must have been at the forefront of Natalie’s mind.
For her showstopper the actor and podcaster paid homage to both June Brown and Barabara Windsor by making angel figures in their likeness out of orange and walnut biscuits.
As she was working on her final festive bake Alison asked Natalie about life on the Square and whether the cast spend time together off camera.
Natalie replied: “Me and June went to Malta once. We had some champagne and we were sat in the jacuzzi together…naked.”
A shocked Alison replied “Well what a great holiday!”.
Dot Cotton's time on EastEnders
Here are just some of Dot's most memorable moments on Albert Square
By Shan Ally, Showbiz Reporter
- Dot bumps off son Nick – John Altman slipped into Nasty Nick’s leather jacket for the first time in 1985 and became the first ever EastEnders serial killer. Throughout the years, despite his breaks from the programme and until his death in 2015, Nick made his criminal life become his one and only career. Nick was responsible for his son Ashley’s death, although it was not intentional as he actually meant to kill Mark Fowler, who left him in a wheelchair a year prior. He cut the breaks on Mark’s motorbike but when Ashley had an argument with Mark about Nick, the young man stole the vehicle. Ashely crashed the motorbike into the Launderette and died. But Dot had the last laugh as she famously watched as her son die of a heroin overdose in 2015.
- Ethel’s death – Dot agreed to help Ethel die on Eastenders back in 2000. One of Dot’s most memorable pairings in EastEnders was with Ethel Skinner. The duo formed a hilarious double-act and could often be found comically bickering, reminiscing about life during the Second World War and chasing after Ethel’s dog Willy. But the whole nation was left weeping at their TV screens in 2000 when Dot agreed to go against her strict Christian beliefs and help Ethel die. After a heart-wrenching chat, Dot gave her a packet of pills and a glass of water. The episode pulled in 16.5million viewers.
- London Eye proposal on Christmas Eve – Dot eventually succumbed to Jim’s advances and said ‘yes’ when he proposed in 2001 inside one of the carriages on the London Eye on the South Bank of the River Thames. They were married on Valentine’s Day in a remarkably uneventful (in soap terms) ceremony. After a mishap with viagra, Dot decided that their marriage should remain purely platonic. The loveable pair were devoted to one another and their hilarious bickering made for some of the soap’s best scenes.
- Making soap history – In 2007, Jim Bardon – who played Jim Branning – suffered a stroke. To explain his absence from the soap, his character suffered the same fate. The result was a poignant episode in which Dot carried an entire programme single-handed. She performed a monologue in which she recorded a message for Jim to listen to in hospital. She was the first actress to have a soap episode entirely to herself and it landed her a BAFTA nomination.
June Brown, who died aged 95, was one of the longest serving cast members in Eastenders history
She appeared as the iconic Dot Cotton in an incredible 2884 episodes from 1985 through to 1993, returning again from 1997 until she finally called it a day in 2020.
The Great British Bake Off Christmas special is available to watch now on catch up.