EastEnders star Roberta Taylor has died at the age of 76.
The actress was best known for her role as Irene Raymond in the BBC soap from 1997 to 2000, before joining the cast of The Bill as Inspector Gina Gold.
According to Roberta’s obituary published in The Guardian, the star died on July 6 ‘from an infection caused by a fall two months prior, agitating her underlying health problems with pneumonia.’
She leaves behind her actor husband Peter Guinness, her son Elliott, a granddaughter and two stepbrothers.
Roberta’s last TV appearance came on the BBC private investigators comedy Shakespeare & Hathaway.
EastEnders star Roberta Taylor has died at the age of 76, after contracting an infection following a fall
Her EastEnders stint began in 1997, when she arrived in Walford as the matriarch of the Hills family, visiting her children Sarah (Daniela Denby-Ashe) and Tony (Mark Homer).
During her three-year stint on the soap, Roberta’s character Irene had a string of love interests, including Terry Raymond (Gavin Richards), as well as a steamy affair with her lodger Troy Harvey (Jamie Jarvis).
After three years in EastEnders, Roberta edecided to leave the soap, and told The Mirror at the time: ‘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.’
Roberta slo had roles in dramas including Silent Witness, Inspector Morse and Doctors.
