Natalie Cassidy and Barbara Windsor's widower Scott Mitchell discuss running the London Marathon for Alzheimer's UK as they share memories of the Eastenders' icon

Natalie Cassidy and Barbara Windsor’s widower Scott Mitchell are running the London Marathon in honour of the late EastEnders star.

Barbara died in 2020 aged 83 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s- and now some of her EastEnders co-stars and Scott, 60, are running the 26.2 miles in her memory.

Natalie, Jake Wood, Heather Pearce, John McIntyre and Lacey Turner are among the cast members who will be taking up the challenge in April as ‘Bab’s Army.’

They are raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK as they remember Barbara.

Speaking on Lorraine on Thursday, Natalie said: ‘We did a half marathon on Saturday. We’ve all got a WhatsApp group and support each other.’

Touching tribute: Natalie Cassidy and Barbara Windsor’s widower Scott Mitchell discussed running the London Marathon for Alzheimer’s UK on Thursday

Honour: Barbara died in 2020 aged 83 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s- and now some of her EastEnders co-stars and Scott (pictured) are running the 26.2 miles in her memory

Scott said: ‘I did 16 miles the other day with Jake Wood. I’m so lucky that I have these incredible friends that will do it with me. It’s for Alzheimers Research UK.’

He continued: ‘I know three people at the moment who are going through loved ones having a tough time with the disease. That’s why we are doing it. We do it for them.’

Natalie also revealed she had a close bond with Barbara, who played Peggy Mitchell, and said: ‘I feel so privileged to have been on the soap when she was there.

‘She showed me the ropes. She taught me how to be.’

It comes after Scott shared the moving words his late wife told him shortly before her death two years ago.

The actor reflected on his grief in an interview with Best magazine and said it is now time for him to think about his future as Barbara would have wanted him to.

Candidly discussing his two-year grief battle, Scott admitted that it is ‘getting better’ and shared the sweet words Barbara shared with him before she died.

He told Best: ‘Before she died, Barbara told me to cry, be broken-hearted, then have the best time. Knowing Barbara, she would have remarried a nice 25-year-old by now!’

Challenge: Natalie (pictured), Jake Wood, Heather Pearce, John McIntyre and Lacey Turner are among the cast members who will be taking up the challenge in April as ‘Bab’s Army’

Scott went on to say that although Barbara will always be important to him, it is time to think about his future and said he is open to whatever comes next in life.

He said: ‘Now it’s time to think about me and my future. Barbara will always be a massive part of my life, but she would want me to move on.’

His latest comments come after Scott recently claimed people cruelly accused him of only using the Carry On legend, who was 26-years his senior, for her money.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain in December, Scott said that Barbara was actually £1million in debt when the couple first met.

Scott, who began his relationship with the soap star when she was 63 and he was 27, said: ‘She had a million pound debt when we met. I must have been the worst gold digger in the world. Really got it wrong there didn’t I?’.

‘They all thought who’s this guy who’s this unknown actor. They thought it was me who ended the marriage [her second]. They called me a gold digger.’

Following Barbara’s death, Scott was left £4.6million in her will, with the star also donating to several charities.

The iconic actress was married three times in her life, first to Ronnie Knight in 1964 then to Stephen Hollings for nine years before divorcing in 1995.

Scott went on to reflect on Barbara’s death saying: ‘It’s incredible. It’s two years tomorrow. I still think she’s gonna walk through the door.

Life: It comes after Scott shared the moving words his late wife told him shortly before her death two years ago (pictured together in 2019)

‘It’s something deep inside me. I wake up some mornings thinking is she still okay’.

‘After 27 years I’m still in the early stages of grief and processing. I still think of the good times. That’s a really good thing for me to go back.

‘I lost my best friend. My other half. That’s what I lost. That’s why I still feel that sense now that she still is there with me. Sometimes feeling the loneliness that she’s not there any more’.

Scott went on to speak about his book entitled By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara Windsor about his twenty-year marriage.

‘She [Barbara] predicted it [the book]. She said one day when I’m gone they’re gonna ask you to write a book. She said you must do it and you must be totally honest.

‘I learned a lot from Barbara about live and love.’

Last year, it emerged that she left £4.6million in her will but also donated £1,000 each to seven different charities, according to The Sun.

Barbara also left 85-year-old Anna Karen – who played Peggy Mitchell’s sister Aunt Sal in EastEnders – £1000.

The paper adds that £5,000 was left to Barbara’s sister-in-law Marsha Alexander and her husband Laurence. £2,000 went to her cousins Leslie Larsen and Julie Elliot.

The NSPCC, Breast Cancer Care, Help The Aged, Grand Order Of Lady Ratlings, National Osteoporisis Society, Headley Court (a wounded soldiers rehab centre) and Age UK made up the seven charities that Barbara left £1000 each to.

Scott was left the rest of Barbara’s £4.63million estate.

Barbara was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014 and kept her fight with the illness private for four years.

Barbara’s final TV role was starring in her own biopic, which chronicled her humble beginnings in Shoreditch up to 1993, with Jaime Winstone and Samantha Spiro playing the star at different points in her life.

Read the full Scott Mitchell interview in the new issue of best magazine, on sale now.