FORMER EastEnders star Wendy Richard has revealed she has written her will and made funeral arrangements after being diagnosed with an aggressive new form of cancer.
The 65-year-old actress, who played Pauline Fowler in EastEnders for 21 years, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 1990s. Although she was given the all-clear in 2005 after undergoing years of treatment, a routine check-up this year
revealed the cancer had returned, spreading from her kidney to her bones.
Last week she announced she will marry her partner of 12 years, John Burns, and now she has revealed she has made plans to put her affairs in order in the event of her death.
The actress, who was awarded an MBE for services to television in 2000, first rose to fame playing Miss Brahms in the 1970s sitcom Are You Being Served? and previously had roles in a host of popular comedies, including Dad's Army, The Likely Lads and Up Pompeii, as well as starring in two Carry On films.
However, she is best known for her role as Pauline Fowler, who she played from the soap's inception in 1985 until 2006 and for which she received a British Soap Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2007.
Yesterday she said she had been diagnosed with cancer again in January and added that years of cancer treatment had left her weak, exhausted and in poor health.
She said: "The drugs I was given to help had an adverse effect. If anything, they did more damage than good so my health has really deteriorated. Now I have a cancerous growth on my right kidney and the cancer has spread to my bones."
Richard also said the newly returned cancer was more vicious than before and revealed doubts about her prospects of bouncing back from the disease a third time.
She said: "Twice I've had breast cancer, but this is different. It's more aggressive this time, unfortunately, and has spread to the top of my spine and left ribs." She added: "My oncologist said I've got several useful years ahead of me, but since then it's got worse."
Richard has said she will marry her fiancé, who will be her fourth husband, before starting a course of chemotherapy on October 13.
More recently she made appearances on the ITV chat show Loose Women, and last month provoked a storm of controversy on the reality TV offshoot Big Brother's Little Brother after making comments about housemate Kat Kasisopa.
Talking about the Thai massage therapist, Richard said: "What is it they say about these inscrutable Chinese? And she is Thai, but it is all Oriental, isn't it? Well, it is to me anyway."
In 2007 she announced plans to star in a new sitcom by her friend David Croft, co-writer of Dad's Army and Are You Being Served?, entitled Here Comes The Queen, alongside Les Dennis. Richard left EastEnders in 2005, but denied her decision was due to health problems, and later claimed that her departure had been due to the stress of a heavy workload and disagreements over storylines.
In an interview in March she insisted she "felt fine".
