Jim Branning Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jacqueline Jossa has returned to EastEnders as the cast and crew start filming the funeral of Dot Cotton following the death of June Brown in April, who played the character for 35 years.

EastEnders' Penny Branning made a dramatic comeback to the BBC soap this week, but who is she and what's her story? Penny is Jack Branning's daughter and has been off-screen since 2008. She uses a wheelchair as she is paralysed from the waist down, a fact revealed during her first stint on the show. Not everyone knew about Penny, even though she adored her dad.

There's a familiar face heading back to Albert Square as Jacqueline Jossa has been spotted filming scenes as part of sensational return to EastEnders at Dot Branning’s emotional funeral.The actress, 29, left the soap four years ago when her character moved to New Zealand but is back at the Elstree Studios to give Dot a good send off as part of a special tribute episode to June Brown, who played the iconic character for 35 years. A horse-drawn hearse with a floral arrangement spelling "Dot" was seen heading to the set and a source told The Sun: “Bosses got in touch with Jacq about returning for Dot’s special episode and she was more than happy to come back.They added: “She was back last week filming her little guest stint.” An EastEnders spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by OK!.

EastEnders have paid a special tribute to June Brown's iconic Dot Cotton on the anniversary of her character's first appearance on the BBC One soap. In a touching scene, Natalie Cassidy's Sonia Fowler and Gillian Taylforth's Kathy Beale recreated the scene as a nod to Dot, who made her first appearance on the show on July 4, 1985 – 37 years ago.

The late EastEnders star June Brown was best known for her role as the legendary Dot Cotton - but it wasn't the actresses first experience on a British soap.

Dot Cotton, the chain-smoking, devoutly religious hypochondriac may be one of EastEnders’s most eccentric characters, but BBC bosses have trusted her with some of the soap’s heaviest storylines.