Ross Kemp thinks about the late Dame Barbara Windsor most days.
Ross Kemp and Barbara Windsor had a special bond and he still honours her memory by continuing her charity work
The pair played the legendary Grant and Peggy Mitchell (son and mother) on the BBC One soap classic and were close friends in real life.
And following her death in December 2020, aged 83, following six years with Alzheimer’s Disease, Ross placed a picture of the screen legend on his wall as he was so "fond" of his co-star, and quipped that she wasn't wearing "very much" in the snap.
He told The Sun's TV Mag: "She's someone that I loved, and I spoke to, I spent a lot of time with.
"I've got a picture of her in my house, so I bounce past that every day - it's a picture of her when she was about 23, wearing not very much, funnily enough, but I don't think of her in that way! I was just very fond of her.
"And she was one of those old big stars, you know, probably the like we will never see again. And she was a friend and I was very close to her."
On their close bond, he continued: "The set at the Vic is a bar, obviously, that goes around in a sort of semi horseshoe, and then there's a stairwell that goes up through the middle of it, and that stairs goes nowhere.
"It goes up into some lights. But I'd let her sit on the stairs and I'd sit on a crate and we just natter in between takes."
Asked if he would get any advice from her, he laughed: "I wouldn't listen to her advice! Barbara? Listen to her advice?!"
He added: "She was so eyes and teeth and laughs and giggles and all that, but there was very serious side to her and she'd seen some quite dark things in her life.
"What would she be thinking now? She'd be thinking: 'Talk more about me, darling!' That's what she'd be saying. 'You haven't mentioned the moment we did this!' 'Oh, you missed an opportunity there - you should have told them about that.'"
The 'Ross Kemp in Afghanistan' presenter is proud to carry on Barbara's charity work and is generous with his time for others like the 'Carry On' star was.
He added: "She was very good at how she presented herself, and she always had time for everybody, and I think that's something that I've tried to kind of follow in her footsteps - or her stilettos.
"I've also become the ambassador for London Poppy Day. so that's a mantle that she passed on to me and the RBL [Royal British Legion] wanted me to carry on.
"And so I think about her, you know, when we get around to that time of year, as I think of a lot of young men that I was with in Afghanistan who sadly didn't make it back or if they did, they came back damaged in some way."
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