Wendy Richards dies

As EastEnders' downtrodden Pauline Fowler with her beige cardigan, laundry bags and bottle-blonded efforts at glamour, Wendy Richard, who has died aged 65, was one of Britain's most recognisable actresses.

Ruling over her family with a will of iron and occasionally kitchen utensils, Pauline was, until 2006, one of only two characters to remain in the series from the very first episode in 1985.

Ian Beale, played by Adam Woodyatt, was the other.

During nearly two decades in the soap, Wendy Richard's character buried her husband, mother and brother, supported her daughter's teenage pregnancy, and coped with her son's HIV-positive condition.

Such episodes were no more traumatic than events in Wendy Richard's own life. Her parents ran a pub where Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, used to drink.

Richard's father committed suicide when she was 11, and her mother died 17 years later. Left without any family, Richard also suffered three divorces, blaming her stressful career for the third.

bless her socks...... i hope she's now finally found some peace