Ethel Skinner

Name: Ethel Skinner
First Appeared: 19th February 1985
Last Appeared: 7th September 2000
Played by: Gretchen Franklin

Ethel Skinner, the pint-sized dynamo, was as endearing as she was mischievous. Born on February 19, 1919, in Camden Town, London, she moved to the East End at sixteen and spent most of her life in Albert Square. Ethel’s life was marked by tragedy when she stormed out of her house during an argument with her father, only to return and find her parents had been killed by a German Doodlebug. This traumatic event led Ethel down a path of provocative fashion and flirtatious behaviour. She eventually married William Skinner in 1945, and although they couldn’t have children, they shared many happy years. After William’s death, Ethel got a pug named Willy in his memory and maintained close friendships with Lou Beale and Dot Branning.

Ethel’s life in Albert Square from 1985 to 1997 was nothing short of eventful. Living above Dr. Legg’s surgery and working as the cleaner in The Queen Vic, she was notorious for spreading outlandish rumours and often getting her words hilariously mixed up. Ethel’s talent for reading palms and tea leaves added to her quirky charm. After Lou’s death in 1988, Ethel and Dot became inseparable, despite their constant bickering. Ethel was always the first to call out the malicious deeds of Dot’s son, Nick Cotton, and she never hesitated to stand up to him, even kneeing him in the groin during one of his mugging attempts. After several falls and a broken hip, Ethel reluctantly moved into sheltered housing in 1988, but she continued to visit Albert Square regularly.

Ethel’s return to Albert Square in 2000 was both touching and heart-breaking. Frail and wheelchair-bound, she arrived at Pauline Fowler’s house unannounced, having run away from her retirement village. Determined to spend her final days with her old friends, Ethel revealed to Dot that she was suffering from terminal cancer. Preferring to die on her own terms, she had been storing morphine tablets for an overdose but became too weak to take them without Dot’s help. This request put Dot in a moral dilemma, torn between her Christian principles and her loyalty to Ethel.

On the night of her 85th birthday (actually her 86th, as she had always lied about her age), after a celebration at The Vic, Ethel decided it was time. With Dot’s assistance, she took the pills and peacefully passed away in her sleep on September 7, 2000. Ethel Skinner’s legacy in Albert Square was one of laughter, resilience, and an unyielding zest for life, even in her final moments.