S24E19 · 3518

On 31 January 2008, June made history by being the first and so far only actress to carry an entire episode single handed in the history of British soap, with a monologue looking back over her past life, dictated to a cassette machine for her husband Jim to listen to in hospital following a stroke. The fact that co-star and close friend John Bardon (who plays Jim) is recovering from a stroke in real life added extra pathos to the episode. In an interview on This Morning she claimed it was relatively easy as there were no co-actors forgetting their lines. In 2009, Brown was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. She is the first actress to be nominated in the category for a role in a soap opera since Jean Alexander's nomination for playing Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street in 1989. Brown's nomination came as a result of her "single-hander" episode of EastEnders, the director of which she praised.