[3] She joined the cast of EastEnders in 1994 and won the 1999 British Soap Award for Best Actress, before leaving the show in 2016 when her character was killed off.

Windsor began her career on stage in 1950 at the age of 13, and made her film debut as a schoolgirl in The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) while studying shipping management at Bow Technical College.

Windsor was born in Shoreditch, London, in 1937 (though her birth was registered in Stepney),[5] the only child of John Deeks, a bus driver, and his wife, Rose (née Ellis), a dressmaker.

[11] Humiliated by this, Windsor was sent back to London in 1944 along with a note from her dance teacher which read: "Barbara is a born show-off who loves to perform.

"[6] Impressed by this, Windsor's mother sent her to Madame Behenna's Juvenile Jollities, a drama school at which she appeared in several charity concerts and pantomimes.

After the war, she passed her 11-plus exams, gaining the top mark in North London, and earned a scholarship for a place at Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill,[6] although she was expelled because she argued with the reverend mother after the latter refused to let Barbara have time off to appear in a pantomime.

[13] Despite this, Windsor was chosen to appear in the chorus of the successful musical Love From Judy in the West End in 1952, which ran for two years.

[6][19] After joining Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East,[20] she came to prominence in their 1959 stage production Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be[20] and Littlewood's film Sparrows Can't Sing (1963), achieving a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film Actress.

In 1975, she toured the UK, New Zealand, and South Africa in her own show, Carry On Barbara!, and followed this with the role of Maria in Twelfth Night at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

[6] In 1981, she played sex-mad landlady Kath in Joe Orton's black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Lyric Hammersmith, directed by her friend Kenneth Williams.

Peggy was the widowed mother of established key characters Phil and Grant Mitchell, and younger sister Samantha.

[6] A debilitating case of the Epstein–Barr virus forced a two-year absence from the role between 2003 and 2005, although Windsor was able to make a two-episode guest appearance in 2004.

[40] On 25 January 2022, by which time Windsor had died, an episode aired in which Peggy's son Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) hears his mother's voice giving him advice.

[42] She provided the voice of the Dormouse in Walt Disney's live-action adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (2010), directed by Tim Burton.

[48] In May 2017, Windsor appeared in a cameo role as herself in BBC Television's biopic about her life, Babs, written by EastEnders scriptwriter Tony Jordan.

It showed Windsor in the 1990s as she prepared to go on stage, and recalled events from her life, including her childhood, marriage to gangster Ronnie Knight, and her roles in the Carry On films.

[53] During the time of making her later Carry On films, she had a well-publicised affair with her fellow actor and co-star Sid James, which lasted three years, until 1976.

[55] James, who, like Windsor, was also already married, would send her a dozen red roses with a note attached with the words "Love Romeo", and even arranged to see her in Australia during her Carry On Barbara one-woman show, as he could not bear to be without her.

[58] Windsor also dated Gary Crosby in the 1960s[59] and had brief sexual encounters with Victor Mature,[59] Anthony Newley,[60] Ronnie Scott,[61] James Booth,[62] George Best[63] and Maurice Gibb,[64] the latter two while she was still married.

[59] In her autobiography, All of Me, Windsor stated that she often turned up at Winston's, the club where she sang, with a black eye, and detailed one occasion when Lawrence dragged her down the street by her hair.

[66] Windsor was best friends with fellow actress Anna Karen, whom she met while filming Carry On Camping and who later went on to play Peggy Mitchell's sister Aunt Sal in EastEnders on and off for 20 years.

Mitchell highlighted the problems many face with the disease, and urged viewers to sign a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, saying he "urgently needs to address these challenges.

[73] Windsor died at Anita Dorfman House, a Jewish Care home in Stanmore, north London, on 10 December 2020, aged 83.

[77] Among those who paid tributes to her were her EastEnders co-stars, entertainers, politicians including then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister David Cameron, the then Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer and members of the Royal family, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge – who described Windsor as "a true national treasure ... a giant of the entertainment world" – and Charles, Prince of Wales with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

The service was attended by Anna Karen, Christopher Biggins, Ross Kemp, David Walliams and Matt Lucas, amongst others, although numbers were limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[90][91] Windsor was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to charity and entertainment.