Ricky Norwood bought June Brown a pair of designer sunglasses last year.

Ricky Norwood

Ricky Norwood

The former 'EastEnders' star used to work with the 89-year-old soap legend a lot on set of the show as their characters Arthur 'Fat Boy' Chubb' and Dot Branning had a very unlikely friendship and used to live together, but their bond didn't end when they finished work for the day as the 33-year-old hunk used to shower his co-star with gifts.

He explained: "Me and June had a great friendship. I loved looking after her and bringing her cake and tea just the way she liked it before we;d sit and go through lines. I'd talk through what the street slang meant, and she'd learn it and say things like, 'Ricky, I like your garms [clothes].' In the summer I even bought her a pair of super diva Tom Ford sunglasses. You should have seen June rocking them out on the Square!"

Ricky broke hearts across the nation last Christmas when his alter ego was tragically killed off by serial murderer Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) when she locked him in the boot of a car - thinking it was her enemy Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood) in there instead - and had the motor crushed at the scrap yard.

Speaking to Inside Soap magazine, Ricky said: "There are still petitions going on. I get told, 'We want Fats back' on a daily basis, whether it's a message on Twitter or somebody I meet in the street. I'd never really had a Christmas storyline, and I liked that it was a secret that I knew would shock people. But I didn't expect to get the response I did! To have that impact on the nation, with a character who was supposed to be on 'EastEnders' for three months, was amazing!"

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