Soap legend Roberta Taylor dies aged 76

Heartbreaking news

Taylor had emphysema, and a fall two months ago worsened her underlying ill health with pneumonia, the Guardian reports.

She passed away on July 6.

Taylor was known across the nation as one of the most recognisable faces in the world British soaps.

After playing Irene Raymond in EastEnders from 1997 to 2000, she took on the role of character Inspector Gina Gold on ITV's The Bill.

Her last major TV appearance was in 2022 series Shakespeare & Hathaway.

Born in Plaistow, East London, and raised in the Isle of Dogs, Taylor originally trained to be a dental nurse whilst taking drama classes.

And it was in 1997 that she would achieve nationwide fame when she joined EastEnders as the matriarch of the Hill family. During her time on Albert Square, her character Irene had a string of love interests, including Terry Raymond (Gavin Richards), as well as an affair with her lodger Troy Harvey (Jamie Jarvis).

Speaking to the Mirror following her exit from the soap in 2000, she said: “I was always thinking, ‘When can I learn my lines’ I gave over much of my life to the show and if I was to carry on at such a pace I’d have to continue to put my life on hold.

“I didn’t want to do things at half-cock [...] I had a lot of fun playing Irene, and Gavin, who plays my screen husband Terry, and I got on brilliantly.

“Irene was a complicated lady. I never knew what was going to happen next, but that's what life is like. We worked hard at our characters.

“People thought we were comical but actually there was a lot of sarcasm.”

Then, in 2002, she joined hit ITV drama, The Bill, as the hard-drinking, no-nonsense Inspector Gina Gold. This was a role she would have until 2008.

She is survived by her actor husband Peter Guinness, her son Elliott, a granddaughter and two stepbrothers.