Dame Barbara Windsor’s widower Scott Mitchell has opened up about finding love with EastEnders star Tanya Franks following his late wife’s death.
Scott and Tanya went public with their romance earlier this summer after meeting through of the fundraising team “Babs’ Army”.
The running group raises money for research into Alzheimer’s, which Barbara was living with until her death in 2020.
During an appearance on This Morning on Monday, Scott described Tanya – better known as EastEnders’ Rainie Cross – as being the “polar opposite” of the late Carry On star.
He told hosts Holly Willoughby and Dermot O’Leary: “We met the first year we did the marathon.
“It’s a very funny thing, I could not have picked two ladies who are more opposite – they are the polar opposites of each other when it comes to talking about their personal life.
“Barbara, if she had have sneezed at 11 o’clock, she’d give you a three hour interview on how it made her feel and the tingling in her nose. Whereas Tanya, she’s an incredible lady but she just believes her personal relationships are not something she wants to discuss and I respect that just as much.
“But we did meet through running and we still do run together, which is a fantastic thing.”
Scott and Dame Barbara were married for 20 years, until her death in 2020.
Six years earlier, the EastEnders legend had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which she spoke publicly about in 2018, and spent her final years campaigning to raise awareness of the condition.
Barbara and Tanya previously shared the screen in the BBC soap, after the latter made her debut in Albert Square in 2007.
Tanya appeared sporadically as Rainie Cross over the next decade, and joined the soap full-time in 2018, before departing Walford last year.
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.