The widower of Eastenders icon Dame Barbara Windsor said the actress refused to eat after going into a care home during the pandemic in a "last show of defiance" against her Alzheimer's disease.

Scott Mitchell, who was married to the Carry On star for 20 years until her death during the second lockdown in December 2020, said he was "eternally grateful" that he was able to spend the final five days at his wife's bedside at a time when many families faced heartbreaking visiting restrictions.

Mr Mitchell, 61, who was the keynote speaker at this year's Alzheimer Scotland conference in Edinburgh, said that the hardest moment of his wife's illness came when he took the decision to admit her to a care home in August 2020 after six years of caring for Dame Barbara at home.

Barbara Windsor in Carry On Doctor in 1967Barbara Windsor in Carry On Doctor in 1967 (Image: PA) Dame Barbara Windsor starred in a string of Carry On films in the 1960s and 1970s, and later went on to join the cast of Eastenders as matriarch Peggy Mitchell in 1994. She was honoured by the Queen for her work in charity and entertainment with a damehood in 2016

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He said he "felt I'd let her down" and continues to feel guilty, despite knowing it was the right decision.

Speaking to The Herald, Mr Mitchell said her attitude reminded him of her Eastenders alter-ego, Peggy Mitchell, who took a fatal overdose amid a battle with terminal cancer.

He said: "Barbara was only in the care home for five months - she deteriorated very quickly.

"She chose not to eat and stopped taking her medication.

"To me, that was Barbara's last show of defiance and doing things on her terms.

"Ironically when she killed Peggy off in 2016, Peggy took her own life, and there's a scene where Peggy says 'I'm going to go out with my head held high'.

"I swear, that was Barbara's subconscious and that's why she made that decision.

"The one thing I will be forever grateful for - because so many people were denied this when it came to end of life - the care home that she was in believed that every individual should have the dignity of having a loved one with them.

"I will be eternally grateful, because I spent the last five days sitting in a chair next to Barbara's bed with her."

Dame Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders. The iconic soap character ended her life in an episode aired in July 2016Dame Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders. The iconic soap character ended her life in an episode aired in July 2016 (Image: BBC/Eastenders) Mr Mitchell was just 29 and embarking on a career as an actor when his parents asked him to come to dinner with them to meet their friend, Barbara Windsor - then aged 55.

They "hit it off" despite the 26-year age gap, and married in 2000.

"We just didn't stop talking," he said of his first encounter with his future wife, describing her as "an incredible ray of sunshine".

The first sign that anything was wrong came when Dame Barbara arrived home one day from work on the BBC soap and told her husband that she "went blank" on set and could not remember her lines.

Gradually, Mr Mitchell said he noticed his normally outgoing wife "withdrawing" in social situations, relying on him to order for her in restaurants, and seeming to lose her confidence.

He noticed her misplacing items or losing her keys more often, and repeating herself.

She struggled to put an outfit together or do her make up, he added.

In 2014, private tests confirmed a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Happier times: Scott Mitchell and wife Dame Barbara Windsor pictured in 2011. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2014Happier times: Scott Mitchell and wife Dame Barbara Windsor pictured in 2011. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2014 (Image: PA)

For the first four years, the couple kept Dame Barbara's condition private - disclosing it only to close family and a small number of friends.

Mr Mitchell said the moment he dreaded most - his wife forgetting who he was - came one day when he was helping her out of the bath.

"She looked at me and I realised she didn't know who I was," he said.

"I could see she was frightened - 'who are you, why are you here?'. It was so painful."

The couple finally revealed Dame Barbara's diagnosis in 2018 after her symptoms worsened. 

They used her high profile to raise awareness of the disease and lobby the UK Government to increase funding for dementia research.

In 2022, research funding was doubled from £80 million to £160m, and the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was founded to drive forward clinical trials, diagnostics and new treatments.

Scott Mitchell travelled from London to Edinburgh to delivered the keynote address at the Alzheimer Scotland conference on Friday September 20, telling delegates that putting his late wife in a care home was the 'worst moment' of the disease (Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times) Mr Mitchell has since been appointed the mission's People's Champion in recognition of his advocacy in fighting for better research and care.

He said: "I'm so proud for Barbara that her legacy has been more than her bra flying off in Carry on Camping.

"I think it's a wonderful thing that she'll be remembered for two things: her career and the enjoyment that that brought to people, and what she did to raise awareness and support for dementia."

He added that he also wants to use his role to give a voice to carers, saying the six years after his wife's diagnosis was "petrifying" and "changed me as a person".

"Witnessing someone you love being taken away from you in that way, you feel so powerless," said Mr Mitchell.

"You're trying to get it right as a carer, but the fact is you don't bloody know what's right. You're learning on the job."

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The Alzheimer Scotland conference comes weeks after the UK's medicines regulator, the MHRA, licensed lecanemab for use in the UK for a subset of Alzheimer's patients.

It is the first of a new type of amyloid drug shown in clinical trials to slow progression of the disease.

However, NICE has advised against prescribing the lecanemab on the NHS, arguing that it is not cost effective.

It can be purchased privately, however.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium has yet to issue its recommendations for NHS Scotland.

Dame Barbara Windsor meeting then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street in September 2019 after delivering an open letter from the Alzheimer's Society urging the government to do something about the 'devastating state' of dementia careDame Barbara Windsor meeting then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street in September 2019 after delivering an open letter from the Alzheimer's Society urging the government to do something about the 'devastating state' of dementia care (Image: PA) One major obstacle is that lecanemab requires patients to have a precise diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Currently, this can only be confirmed by a PET scan or lumbar puncture to extract spinal fluid.

Mr Mitchell said the NHS must "get ready" for new amyloid-based therapies in the pipeline.

He said: "What frightens me is that, okay, we can understand what [NICE] are saying - it's the first generation, cost effectiveness, it'll only work for certain people and so on.

"But if that doesn't change, what we're going to be left with is not a country I want to live in.

"People with dementia - if you've got a few quid - you'll be okay, you can buy it privately.

"In America it's $20,000 a person for a year.

"We can't have that. We can't have the rest of the population being excluded."