EXCLUSIVE: Scott Mitchell opens up on effect caring for the late EastEnders legend still has on him, her legacy and his own cancer scare

Scott Mitchell says Barbara Windsor’s legacy lives on through his dementia awareness work

One of the most joyful stars to grace TV screens, it’s no surprise that Barbara Windsor’s light continues to shine brightly more than four years after her death. Millions mourned the EastEnders and Carry On favourite’s passing from Alzheimer’s at 83 in December 2020.

And while Dame Barbara may have gone, she’s certainly not forgotten – as her widower carries on campaigning for dementia research, treatment and care in her name. “She’d be incredibly proud now to know that her name is still helping people,” says Scott Mitchell, 62, at the home they once shared in London. He talks about the amazing legacy Barbara has left, the lasting effect her death has had on him as he still ­struggles to sleep five years on – and finding love again with former EastEnders actress Tanya Franks.

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Scott and Barbara were together for 26 years before her death in 2020(Image: Getty Images)

Scott leads the government-backed Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme and wants a meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to push for further action.

“I’m very proud of the lady she was and the mark that she’s left,” smiles Scott, speaking ahead of Dementia Action Week. “I always joke and say, ‘She won’t only be remembered for a bra flying off in Carry On Camping or telling people to get out of her pub’. There’s a new legacy for Barbara Windsor. And that is the world of dementia, helping people, and that’s very important.”

The actress who played Queen Vic landlady Peggy Mitchell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014. Watching her fade away over six years was incredibly tough for Scott.

“You’re powerless against it,” he explains. “It’s a much bigger force and presence than we are. You watch someone you love slowly being taken away. Everything they stood for is stripped away. You see them reverting back to childhood.

Scott is fighting for better dementia care, treatment and research in late wife Barbara’s name(Image: Humphrey Nemar)

“You will do things as a carer for your loved one that maybe you should never have to do in their lives. Personal care. And that’s the hard part. Not being able to do anything about it. That’s what has always pushed me with the campaigning. That’s what drives me.”

Together for 27 years, Scott and Barbara got married in 2000. Eyebrows were raised over their 26-year age gap but they proved the doubters wrong.

“It would be impossible for me not to miss her,” says Scott. “However, I also look at the fact that Barbara led an incredible life. And some! And she most likely lived 10 lives over compared to the rest of us.

“Before she had dementia, she would say to me, ‘When I die, be broken hearted, please. I want you to cry your eyes out. But then you promise me that you have the best life ever. Because that’s what I did’.

“The fact that we had 27 years together anyway was the most incredible thing. It shouldn’t have worked but we did spend this incredible life together.

Scott cared for Barbara as she deteriorated from Alzheimer’s (Image: UK Press via Getty Images)

“Now when I look back, I feel blessed for the time we spent together. Barbara changed my life in so many ways.”

Scott says Barbara would have wanted him to find love again and two years ago he began a relationship with her co-star Tanya Franks, 57, who played Rainie Cross in the soap.

“I’m incredibly happy,” he says. “Me being unhappy and alone is not going to bring Barbara back. Life is very much for the living and we all get one shot at living. Of course, there’s always someone on the internet, who’s going to say, ‘Oh, it didn’t take him long.’

“Well, maybe they forget the fact that Barbara’s illness possibly started initially 10 years before she passed so you’re grieving while they’re alive. You lose them while they’re alive. I didn’t feel guilty because I knew I had Barbara’s blessing because of what she’d always said to me.

“Tanya is a wonderful lady. She’s very private. She’s not how Barbara was in that respect. Barbara was an open book. Barbara told you every detail about her life. Tanya has no interest in celebrity. She is a very good actress. At the moment, she’s appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in Much Ado About Nothing.

Scott has found love again with former EastEnders actress Tanya Franks – and says Barbara would be happy for him(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

“I don’t compare the two ladies. They’re very different and I have love for both of them. I wouldn’t be with anyone who wasn’t truly lovely.”

But Scott still has problems sleeping from being his late wife’s carer for so long. “I’ve never recovered from my sleep from when I was caring for Barbara,” he explains. I’ll fall asleep at 11 but I can be waking up through the night.

“I was so aware of when she used to get up in the night because she used to have falls in the night. So I never really used to sleep. I used to constantly be alert. My awareness was so acute that my sleeping pattern got completely out of sync and it never really recovered.

“The impact it has on the family and carers is something that should never be estimated. That’s the kind of hangover that I’ve got from it still nearly five years later.

Scott is asking for a meeting with health secretary Wes Streeting to discuss the government’s plan for addressing dementia, the biggest killer in this country(Image: Humphrey Nemar)

“There are times when I wake up and I panic because I think, is she OK? Like I used to. I have to talk to myself and say, ‘it’s OK. She’s at peace’. It’s a lot less than it used to be now.”

Scott suffered his own health scare recently when a biopsy revealed that skin damage on his nose was pre-cancerous. Diagnosed with actinic keratosis, a condition that appears as scaly, rough patches on skin, it’s caused by sun damage and can potentially develop into cancer if left untreated. “My sunbathing days are over,” he says. “It has to be Factor 50 every day. When we’re in the height of the summer I’ll be wearing a hat and clothes, which will be torture for me.”

An acting agent and huge EastEnders fan, Scott praised the soap’s “sensitive” dementia storyline and says Barbara would have loved its recent 40th celebrations. He said the show changed both of their lives after she joined in 1994. “It was a year after I’d met Barbara and she was having a really tough time and had a huge debt,” he says.

Barbara Windsor played iconic EastEnders landlady Peggy Mitchell and was adored by fans(Image: BBC)

Accused of being after her money when they got together, Scott scoffs: “She had a million pound debt, I would have been the worst gold digger in the United Kingdom’s history.”

Now nobody questions his mission to beat dementia in her name. Last year he was appointed People’s Champion for the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission and addressed scientists, NHS chiefs and tech bosses at 10 Downing Street.

“I thought of Barbara and I thought of my dad who I lost 18 months before Barbara,” he recalls. “And I thought to myself, ‘If you could see me now’. “I left school with no qualifications and here I am at the heart of government, telling my story. It was the most amazing ‘pinch me’ moment.”

Scott, an ambassador of ­Alzheimer’s Research UK, has helped bring in more than £250,000 running three marathons and secured £200million in government funding.

Scott Mitchell and Tanya Franks ran the London Marathon in Barbara’s memory(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“Our programme is about speeding up treatments, trials, getting new treatments to patients faster,” he says. “The odds of finding a cure in my generation are highly unlikely. But maybe future generations will not go through the painful experiences that we have been through. Treatments are going to get better and better. We now know you can drastically start slowing this down – now that is incredible.”

With dementia our biggest killer, Scott says there is more to be done. Having met Wes Streeting just before the General Election, he is hoping to sit down with him again to push for further action.

“I appreciate the many pressures facing the NHS and the range of issues the Secretary of State is seeking to address right now,” he says. “However, it’s important to recognise that the impact of dementia is driving many of these pressures. Breakthroughs in science mean we have an opportunity to change this but it will require leadership from the government.

“I’m concerned that right now dementia doesn’t have sufficient prominence in the national debate about the future of the health service despite the fact it remains the UK’s biggest killer.

“I’m really keen to work with Wes Streeting to address this and want to meet with him soon to discuss a way forward.

“If Barbara’s name can help ­generations in the future – by bringing awareness, or finding a cure one day, or bringing out treatments – then I will keep doing it.”

Dementia Action Week starts on Monday and Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Walk For A Cure campaign is organising 5k walks.