29 Facts About Anita Dobson

1.

Anita Dobson is best known for her role from 1985 to 1988 as Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

2.

Anita Dobson has starred in the West End as Mama Morton in the musical Chicago and Gertrude in Hamlet, and made her RSC debut in the 2012 revival of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

3.

Anita Dobson trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

4.

Anita Dobson appeared in several series in the early 1980s including the Jim Davidson sitcom Up the Elephant and Round the Castle.

5.

Anita Dobson is best known for playing the emotionally battered and alcoholic landlady Angie Watts in BBC1 soap opera EastEnders, a role she played from the show's inception in 1985 until 1988.

6.

Whilst playing Angie Watts, alcoholic landlady of the Queen Vic, Anita Dobson worked closely with actor Leslie Grantham, landlord of the Queen Victoria who played her adulterous husband 'Dirty Den Watts'.

7.

Since leaving EastEnders Dobson has appeared in many television, film and theatre roles, including the BBC sitcoms Red Dwarf, Rab C Nesbitt and her own sitcom series Split Ends, which lasted for only one series.

8.

Anita Dobson has made guest appearances in the BBC dramas Dangerfield, Ghosts, Sunburn and Hotel Babylon, and the ITV detective series The Last Detective among others, along with the films Sweet Revenge and Darkness Falls.

9.

Anita Dobson has been reunited with fellow EastEnder Leslie Grantham in the Sky production called The Stretch and Five's Horror series Urban Gothic.

10.

Anita Dobson worked on the ITV1 police drama The Bill in 2005 and appeared in the radio Doctor Who serial Blood of the Daleks.

11.

Anita Dobson has played five different guest characters in the BBC1 medical drama Casualty, appearing in episodes in October 2000, July 2009, July 2011, March 2013 and October 2017; she had two guest roles in Casualtys sister series, Holby City, in September 2003 and December 2014 respectively.

12.

Anita Dobson featured in the film London Road in 2015 and appeared alongside Simon Callow in the Gold comedy series The Rebel in 2016.

13.

Anita Dobson was the subject of This Is Your Life in 2002 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel.

14.

On 20 January 2023, it was announced that Anita Dobson would be guest starring in the fourteenth series of Doctor Who.

15.

On 27 April 2023, Anita Dobson appeared in the series 8 opener of Inside No 9, "Mother's Ruin", as Frances.

16.

Anita Dobson has performed as a singer, with varying degrees of chart success.

17.

Anita Dobson has released several other singles and albums with minor chart success.

18.

Anita Dobson appeared in the revived Tom Stoppard musical Rough Crossing and played a holocaust survivor in My Lovely Shayna Maidel.

19.

Anita Dobson appeared as Mama Morton in the West End musical Chicago.

20.

Anita Dobson played the role of Gertrude in the English Touring Theatre production of Hamlet, at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End, following a UK tour in autumn 2005.

21.

In 2012, Anita Dobson played the role of Mistress Quickly in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

22.

From September 2016 to January 2017, Anita Dobson appeared as Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

23.

In June 2019, Anita Dobson joined Trevor Nunn's West End revival of Fiddler On The Roof at the Playhouse Theatre playing the role of Yente, alongside Maria Freidman taking on the role of Golde, until the production's closure on 2 November 2019.

24.

On 6 September 2011, it was announced that Anita Dobson would take part in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

25.

Anita Dobson was eliminated on 27 November 2011 after Robin Windsor had been unable to dance for a week due to an injury.

26.

Anita Dobson therefore rehearsed and danced the Cha Cha Cha and the Swingathon with Brendan Cole.

27.

Anita Dobson was nominated for a 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in Frozen at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe.

28.

In 2007, Anita Dobson was made a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts.

29.

Anita Dobson is a patron of the theatre charity the Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America.