a comparatively rare cancer and the fact that cancer is a disease most often affecting older people." Brown herself has confessed that she was unhappy with the storyline as she felt playing illness was not productive at her age. Discussing Dot's reluctance to reveal her illness to anyone, Brown said "[it's] ironic because I've played her as a hypochondriac, longing for attention, for 20 years. Now something's wrong, she doesn't want anyone to know." Abandoned baby In the Easter 2007 episode, Dot takes an abandoned baby she finds in a church. This was filmed in Kent at Stansted, St. Giles Church in Wormshill, The Ringlestone Inn near Harrietsham and Court Lodge Farm. After being contacted by the child's Ukrainian mother Anya, Dot offers to care for both of them, however Jim turns Anya in to the authorities for being an illegal immigrant. Roz Laws of the Sunday Mercury questioned the plausibility of the storyline, observing: "Babies aren't abandoned in the real world very often. But you can barely cross [Albert] Square [...] without tripping over poor tots who their mothers don't want." Laws also felt that the speed at which the immigration department operated was "amazingly on-the-ball", when in reality many illegal immigrants "slip through the net". Monologue In January 2008, Dot became the first soap opera character to be featured in a monologue episode, known as a "single-hander". Written by Tony Jordan, the episode features Dot recording a message for Jim, who is in hospital recovering from a stroke. The episode is entitled "Pretty Baby....", named after the song of the same name by Tony Jackson, which replaced the drumbeats and EastEnders theme tune that typically accompanies the end credits of episodes. Brown was nominated in the Best Actress category at the 2009 British Academy Television Awards for her performance in the episode, becoming the first soap actress nominated in the category since 1988, when Jean Alexander was shortlisted for her role as Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street. 2020 departure and off-screen death On 20 February 2020, it was reported that Dot's appearance on 21 January 2020 was her last and that Brown had announced that she would "never go back" when she told the Distinct Nostalgia podcast, "I don't want a retainer for EastEnders, I've left. I've left for good. I've sent her off to Ireland where she'll stay. I've left EastEnders." A BBC statement said: "We never