EastEnders star Wendy Richard dying from cancer

FORMER EastEnders star Wendy Richard said yesterday she was dying of cancer and would marry her long-term partner.

The 65-year-old actress told the Sunday Express she had written her will and planned her funeral after being diagnosed in January with an aggressive form of the disease that has attacked her kidney and spread to her bones.

The star, who played Pauline Fowler in the BBC1 soap opera, has twice been diagnosed with breast cancer.

She said: “I went for my usual annual check-up and they found that some cancer cells had returned in my left armpit.”

The actress, who rose to fame playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served?, 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.

“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.”

Ms Richard will marry her partner, John Burns, before starting chemotherapy treatment on October 13.