Airdate: Babs

UK telemovie Babs, which dramatises the life of the iconic Dame Barbara Windsor, will screen next week on UKTV.

The film, penned by EastEnders scriptwriter Tony Jordan, is unique for having Dame Barbara actually portraying her senior self.

Also featuring are Jaime Winstone, Samantha Spiro, Nick Moran, Zoë Wanamaker and Leanne Best.

The heartwarming story of Dame Barbara Windsor, the Cockney kid with a dazzling smile and talent to match, who went on to become a British icon.

This aired in the UK in May.

Cheeky, chirpy, buxom and blonde, Barbara Windsor is loved by the British nation. From her roles in the Carry On films to Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders, her fame has spanned generations. But, born Barbara Ann Deeks in London in 1937, Babs came from humble beginnings, the only daughter of a bus conductor and a dressmaker.

Spanning 50 years, from 1943 to 1993, this drama takes us on a journey introducing the people and the events that shaped her life and career. Set in the theatre one cold evening in 1993, this drama follows Babs as she contemplates her lonely childhood, her complicated relationship with her father, her doomed marriages, capturing the attention of theatre director Joan Littlewood and becoming the blonde bombshell in the Carry On films.

Full of heart and heartbreak – with a touch of sauciness thrown in for good measure – this drama skips through the decades, bringing to the screen the key moments in Barbara Windsor’s life that have made her who she is today.

Saturday September 23 at 7.40pm on UKTV.