Barbara Windsor's widower Scott Mitchell makes daring vow for charity

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Dame Barbara Windsor’s widower Scott Mitchell has promised to shave his head if a generous donor gives £1m to Alzheimer’s Research UK.

The EastEnders star died in December 2020 aged 83 having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2014 and Mitchell has become an ambassador for Alzheimer's Research UK and run the London Marathon several times to raise money for the charity.

Mitchell shocked girlfriend Tanya Franks and new This Morning hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley when he made the daring vow live on ITV while talking about his charity work.

What, how, and why?

Mitchell, 61, appeared on This Morning with his girlfriend Tanya Franks, 56 – who played Rainie Cross in EastEnders between 2007 and 2022 – to discuss his ongoing campaigning for dementia awareness.

Mitchell married Carry On star Windsor in 2000 and when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease they worked together to support the charity. Since Windsor's death, Mitchell has continued to campaign for Alzheimer's Research UK in her memory, raising over £170,000. He has run the London Marathon in aid of the charity several times, alongside other stars of EastEnders.

Mitchell, who has long shoulder-length hair, admitted he had decided not to run a marathon again as part of his fundraising.

He old hosts Deeley and Shephard: "I've already said, 'This is it and I'm not doing another one.'"

But he then added: "Look, there's only one way I can do it and that's if for next year's marathon, there's someone out there with some excess money or a company that wants to give £1m to Alzheimer's Research UK, I will do another marathon... And I will shave my hair off. That's the big one."

This shocked Franks, admitted: "I did not realise that was one of the conditions."

Shephard said: "If there is somebody watching This Morning, maybe they've been affected by Alzheimer's, they're from a big company or maybe you get a big sponsor to donate £1m, it would all be going to such a good cause."

Mitchell said: "I'm passionate about it. I don't want people to go through the latter stages of what I went through with Barbara."

What else happened on This Morning?

Mitchell said how luck he was to have found love again with Franks.

He said: "I'm lucky to have a new partner who doesn't mind me talking about and sharing memories of my late wife."

Mitchell had previously said he did not think he would ever find love again. But after confirming he was dating Franks in July 2023, he has said: "She’s a wonderful lady who knew Barbara. It can’t be easy to be with someone who was the other half of Barbara Windsor, especially the fact that I still put myself out there and talk about her.

"So, it says to me the type of person that Tanya is, that she can deal with that. She’s very sure of herself as a person. Just because you’re not with someone for whatever reason, it doesn’t mean to say that you just switch off some valve of love."

Read more: Scott Mitchell and Tanya Franks

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• Barbara Windsor's widower met EastEnders gf during tribute to his wife (Digital Spy, 2 min read)