"All I want is a pain-free day and to be able to laugh,” says Wendy Richard, 65, of her marriage today to John Burns, a union given added poignancy after the actress disclosed a cancer diagnosis that she believes is terminal.

Richard, three times divorced, has shared many of the traumas of Pauline Fowler, the long-suffering EastEnders matriarch whom she played for two decades. The “dowdy” Fowler was wholly at odds with Richard’s breakthough role as the “cheeky Cockney” Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served?

After beating cancer twice before, she accepted the latest diagnosis with her trademark stoicism.

But a new David Croft comedy, in which she plays an “updated” Miss Brahms, should bring a smile to viewers.

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