EastEnders’ Dot Branning is to be let out of jail to bid farewell to her beloved husband Jim.
The soap is to pay tribute to the late John Bardon, who died last September, aged 75, with an elaborate funeral for his character. John had played Jim in the BBC One soap since 1996, but was written out in 2007 after suffering a stroke.
Dot (June Brown) is currently on remand after confessing to murdering her villainous son Nick Cotton.
John Bardon played Dot’s husband Jim Branning for 11 years (BBC)
Images published in the Daily Star show Dot will be released for the day to attend the funeral – albeit in handcuffs, with a police escort.
The photos taken of the filming also revealed Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) will drive the horse-drawn hearse and all the soap’s cast will be there to pay their respects.
Jim’s granddaughter Abi, played by Lorna Fitzgerald, gives Jim’s flat cap to Dot so she can place it on his coffin.
John Bardon died in September 2014 (Doug Peters/allactiondigital.com )
EastEnders’ executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins recently revealed to Digital Spy: “We are planning to celebrate John. You’ve got to be really careful with these things, but it’s only right to do it.
“I went to John’s funeral and I spoke to his wife Enda then about doing something on the show. We’ve chatted to Enda because I wanted to get her blessing in order to do it properly.
“We want to pay tribute to John because he was amazing.”
