Christopher Biggins hopes there can be a "big send off" for Dame Barbara Windsor by the end of the year.
Christopher Biggins
The 'Carry On' actress died in December aged 82 after battling Alzheimer's but coronavirus restrictions meant just 30 mourners were allowed at her funeral earlier this month, so her close friend is hopeful a huge celebration of her life can be arranged when the lockdown measures are eventually eased.
He said: “Sadly I think this is going to go on until 2023 before we go back to complete normality but let’s hope that at the end of this year or the beginning of 2022 we really can send her off in a big way.
“Normally we could have filled Wembley Stadium with people who would have wanted to say goodbye.
“The streets would have been lined.”
The 72-year-old actor was among those who assembled for her funeral at Golders Green Crematorium in north London on 8 January and he admitted it was an "extremely sad" day, made all the more difficult by the limited numbers.
He told The Sun newspaper: "It was an extremely sad day.
“There were just 29 of us there because that morning one of the guests got Covid, can you believe it?
“To play to 29 people who were sad and upset, it was very difficult to get the odd laugh here and there.
“And of course, you had to have a laugh because Barbara was a funny woman.
“Most of my memories are of having a great laugh with her. That is what she was about so it was really terribly sad."
Christopher also paid tribute to Barbara's husband Scott Mitchell, who had cared for his wife since her Alzheimer's diagnosis in 2014 until she eventually deteriorated and was admitted into a residential care home.
He said: “If I could organise it I would make Scott a saint tomorrow because he was extraordinary with Barbara. He was just wonderful.
“And they were just very much in love. Towards the end, the last few months were tragic for him and for Barbara. It was not very pleasant.”
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