Father Ted star Pauline McLynn joins EastEnders

(Image credit: BBC/Jack Barnes)

Ex Father Ted star Pauline McLynn is joining EastEnders in a recurring guest role, playing Charlie Cotton’s mother Yvonne.

Pauline, who remains best known for playing Mrs Doyle in hit Channel 4 comedy Father Ted, said: "It is a thrill to join EastEnders, my favorite soap, and in particular any chance to be part of a Dot Cotton storyline is not to be passed up - June Brown is a legend and I feel privileged to act with her."

Yvonne will first be seen on screen visiting Dot who, after making a surprising discovery, demands answers about her grandson Charlie. Will Yvonne give Dot the answers she is looking for? But, more importantly, is she all that she seems?

EastEnders' executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins said: “I have always been a little in love with Pauline McLynn so I’m so excited that she’s joining the Cotton family. It was about time Albert Square had another Irish character and I know that viewers are going to both love and be intrigued by Yvonne Cotton."

Pauline, 51, is best known for her roles in Father Ted, Jam and Jerusalem and Shameless.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.