Anita, Lady May (born 29th April 1949 in Stepney, London), known as Anita Dobson, is an English actress and singer who portrayed Angie Watts in EastEnders from February 1985 to May 1988, with a one–off return in February 2025. In 1986, she reached number four in the UK Singles Chart with "Anyone Can Fall in Love", a song based on the theme music of EastEnders.
Anita as Angie Watts.
Anita's other television roles include the 1989 ITV sitcom Split Ends. In 2003, she was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress for the National Theatre production of Frozen. She has also starred in the West End as Mama Morton in the musical Chicago (2003) and Gertrude in Hamlet (2005), and made her RSC debut in the 2012 revival of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Her film appearances include Darkness Falls (1999) and London Road (2015). She is married to Brian May, the guitarist of the English rock band Queen.
EastEnders[]
Dobson was not the first person to be cast as Angie – another actress, Jean Fennell, had already begun recording when it was decided that her performance did not "gel" with the original idea of the character, and Anita was substituted in the role. Whilst playing Angie Watts, alcoholic landlady of the Queen Vic, Anita worked closely with actor Leslie Grantham, landlord of the Queen Victoria who played her adulterous husband 'Dirty Den Watts'. On Christmas Day in 1986, 30.15 million viewers tuned in to witness Den handing Angie her divorce papers, giving the soap its highest ever episode rating, which has yet to be surpassed by any other soap in the UK.
Since quitting EastEnders in 1988, BBC bosses made numerous offers for her to return, but she did not accept any of the offers; recently she commented "Why tarnish the gorgeous creation that was Angie Watts?" Bosses finally gave up hope of ever tempting her to return, and in 2002 the character of Angie Watts died off-screen of alcohol poisoning and was brought home to be buried by her on-screen daughter Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), who had returned to the show the previous year. She eventually made a cameo appearance of a hallucination of Angie experienced by Sharon in February 2025 as part of the show's 40th anniversary celebrations.