EastEnders scraps early episode release for Dot Branning funeral

EastEnders spoilers follow.

EastEnders is gearing up to say goodbye to beloved character Dot Branning.

The Walford residents will pay tribute to Dot, played by late soap star June Brown, in an episode airing tonight (December 12).

The BBC has made a change to its usual World Cup early episode release schedule on iPlayer, which means that the first airing of Albert Square's farewell to Dot will air live on TV.

dot branning receives a letter from doctor legg in eastenders

BBC

Dot's memorial will bring a few familiar faces back to the Square, including her step-granddaughter Lauren Branning, who is flying in from New Zealand.

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Colin Russell, Mary Smith, Lofty Holloway, Disa O'Brien and Barry Clark will also attend.

But there's at least one character who won't return for the funeral – Dot's half-sister Rose, played by Polly Perkins.

Sonia Fowler recently explained that Rose won't be able to make it as she's "stuck on a cruise" with her son Andrew.

"She's devastated but she said to go ahead," Sonia told Patrick in an episode which aired last week.

Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron//BBC

The decision to not make the episodes available to stream prior to TV transmission is likely due to the scenes including a few more surprises for the most loyal EastEnders fans.

Viewers, however, have had mixed reaction to the announcement on social media.

"EastEnders being very clever with their iPlayer schedule this week only sticking Thursday and Friday's episodes in advance on iPlayer. I'm glad that they have done that though. The funeral and the aftermath need to be watched LIVE," one fan commented on Twitter.

"Went on iPlayer and was heartbroken," was another comment, while another person said they were "gutted" today's and Tuesday's episodes won't be available in the morning.

EastEnders airs on Mondays - Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer.