EastEnders actress Dame Barbara Windsor, dies at 83

British actress Dame Barbara Windsor, best known for her roles in EastEnders and the Carry On films, has died aged 83 years, the BBC reports.

Her husband Scott Mitchell said she had died peacefully from Alzheimer's at a London care home on Thursday evening.

She had been diagnosed with the disease in 2014 and had moved to a care home earlier this year.

Mitchell said she would be remembered for the "love, fun, friendship and brightness she brought to all our lives.''

Dame Barbara appeared in nine of the 31 films in the comedy series Carry On, and also made appearances in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and On the Fiddle with Sean Connery.

She was well known to millions of TV viewers for her portrayal of landlady Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders, starring alongside her on-screen children Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden.

Her last appearance in the soap came in 2016, the same year she was made a dame for her services to charity and entertainment.

As well as her performances on screen, she worked in theatre and appeared in productions including Oh! What A Lovely War and Fings Ain't Wot They Used to Be.

After her dementia diagnosis Dame Barbara became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society and met Prime Minister Boris Johnson to raise awareness about the disease.

The star delivered a letter signed by 100,000 people pleading for better care for people affected by dementia and saying the system was "completely inadequate, unfair, unsustainable and in dire need of more money".

Mitchell, who campaigned alongside his wife, said of her death: "It was not the ending that Barbara or anyone else living with this very cruel disease deserve.

"I will always be immensely proud of Barbara's courage, dignity and generosity dealing with her own illness and still trying to help others by raising awareness for as long as she could."

The couple went public with her diagnosis in 2018 and Mr Mitchell had said they had been "really nervous" about revealing she was affected by the condition.

In his statement he thanked the public, family and friends for support which he said "Barbara deeply appreciated".

He added: "I've lost my wife, my best friend and soul mate and my heart or life will never feel the same without you."