Actor and peer Lord Michael Cashman, who played Colin Russell in EastEnders, said that June Brown, who played Dot Cotton in the BBC soap, had asked him for help with an assisted death before she died in 2022
EastEnders legend June Brown requested help from former co-star Lord Michael Cashman to secure an assisted death before she passed away in 2022, the peer has revealed.
During Friday’s House of Lords debate on assisted dying, as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ultimately failed, Lord Cashman disclosed that Ms Brown had made the heartfelt appeal to him prior to her death.
Lord Cashman appeared alongside Ms Brown during the late 1980s on the BBC soap, where she famously portrayed chain-smoking launderette worker Dot Cotton.
Ms Cotton featured prominently in one of television’s most significant euthanasia storylines, when her character assisted fellow Albert Square resident Ethel Skinner in ending her life following a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2000.
Lord Cashman himself made broadcasting history when his character Colin Russell took part in British television’s first on-screen gay kiss in 1989.
Addressing the chamber, Lord Cashman stated: “I also remember my dear friend June Brown, who implored me to get her to a country where she could die with dignity and the death that she wanted.”
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was abandoned on Friday after peers exhausted their allocated time for discussion. The legislation cannot proceed without MPs reintroducing it in the House of Commons.
The former Labour peer, who is now non-aligned, had previously mentioned witnessing a friend’s suffering who had enquired about assisted dying, though he had not named them at the time. He revealed: “When my dear friend of many, many years suffered for months, she knew there was another way and she implored me to help her, my lords, I did.
“I was prepared to break the law as I contacted clinics in the Netherlands and Switzerland. However, it was to come to nothing.”
Lord Cashman has previously shared how Ms Brown had enabled him to take time away from Eastenders rehearsals to participate in demonstrations against Section 28 during the late 1980s.
Speaking on Friday, Lord Cashman disclosed he had also witnessed his husband of 31 years endure a “slow and agonising death” over a decade ago.
“I deeply regret, my Lords, that we have not passed this necessary and I believe important Bill, we have not fulfilled the humane wishes of those who seek the right to choose how they die,” he stated.
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