Scott Mitchell, the widower of late EastEnders star Barbara Windsor, has defended his new relationship with Tanya Franks.
Barbara passed away in December 2020 following a heartbreaking six year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
The actress kept her diagnosis a secret until 2018, but during that time had reached out to former EastEnders executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins and asked for her character Peggy Mitchell, who she had played for sixteen years and then sporadically from 2013 to 2016, to be killed off.
Following her death, husband Scott, alongside many of her former co-stars including Adam Woodyatt, Jake Wood and Natalie Cassidy, began to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK.
It was through their campaign, known as Babs’ Army, that he met Tanya Franks who has played Rainie Cross in the BBC soap across several stints over the last seventeen years.
The couple ran the 2019 London Marathon together, with Tanya paying tribute to her step-father Derek who was also impacted by the same condition as Barbara.
Recently, Scott reflected on his relationship with Barbara and the conversations they had shortly before she died, revealing that Barbara never wanted Scott to be on his own once she had gone.
‘I would like to believe that she would be happy that someone was there by my side and that I wasn’t on my own. She always used to say to me, “I never want you to be on your own”‘, he said during a chat with Kate Thornton on the podcast White Wine Question Time.
Noting the comments he’s received about apparently moving on too fast, Scott said: ‘There was a bit of, “Oh he’s moved on too fast”. And you just think, “how dare you?” People don’t know the pain. They don’t know what the grief has been.’
‘I don’t think anyone ever gets over a loss of someone they love so deeply. I think we find ways of carrying them with us, and that’s what I try to do every day.’
Last year, Scott and Tanya shared a rare insight into their private life.
During an episode of This Morning, Scott said: ‘She (Barbara) will always be there and I am very fortunate to have a partner who doesn’t make me feel bad about talking about my late wife or keeping this memory alive and working together, we are both equally as passionate.’
