Walford's Finest Remembered

Wendy Richards is remembered at this pub - a new Blue Plaque

Location: 50, Hertford Street, W1J 7ST

Description: A blue plaque has been unveiled at the 'Shepherds Tavern' in central London in honour of the former EastEnders actress, who died in February 2009 after a long cancer battle.

A STAR-STUDDED audience has turned out to remember actress 'Wendy Richard' as a plaque was unveiled in her memory at a Mayfair pub.

Though remembered for her role as the matriarch in EastEnders, Richard played the role of the Cockney sex symbol in shows before appearing in Walford.

She began her TV career appearing in the 60s BBC soap opera The Newcomers, before having bit-parts in Dads Army, Up Pompeii! and The Likely Lads.

Richard also appeared in two Carry On films in the 60s: Carry On Matron and Carry On Girls, which also starred her future EastEnders co-star Barbara Windsor.

She even scored a surprise No 1 hit in the singles charts in 1962, when her song Come Outside - a duet with Mike Sarne - topped the charts for two weeks.

But it was in 1972 that she was to become a household name, appearing in retail comedy Are You Being Served? as sexy shop assistant Miss Brahms.

The series was a huge hit and garnered high ratings until its end in 1985 - the same year EastEnders began and Richard reinvented herself as Pauline Fowler. Her character was killed off in Christmas 2006.