Actress behind Dot Cotton reveals loss of sight and hearing

June Brown has played Dot Cotton since the show began Credit: PA

EastEnders star June Brown - who plays Albert Square veteran Dot Cotton - has revealed she is losing her hearing, just months after admitting her vision was starting to fade.

The 88-year-old actress told the Sun that her ears popped on a flight to Glasgow where she was due to support a charity event, and had not returned.

She revealed her struggle when she was called up on stage during a Q&A with former fellow castmate Barbara Windsor, who played Peggy Mitchell.

Despite being seated on the front row, June said: "Are you talking to me Babs? Tell me, because I am deaf you see and it is very hard for me to hear so I don't know what you are talking about. What did you say to me?"

Turning to the audience, she added: "'Sorry, I would like you all to shout because I can't hear, you see. I am ever so sorry. I am straining here."

She said she was hopeful her ears would heal, as she felt it was "unkind" to have lost her hearing in that manner.

It comes after she told Radio 4 in May that she had problems with her eyes.

But she insisted she was not ready to give up work - saying money worries motivated her to keep going.

June has portrayed her alter-ego Dot since the show began in 1985, when she was 58, aside from a four-year break in the 1990s.

The long-running character is set to return to the Square in the coming weeks, having finally been released from prison, where she has been locked up since the death of her son Nick.