Barbara Windsor to leave BBC soap 'EastEnders'

British actress Barbara Windsor announced on Wednesday that she was quitting long-running BBC soap 'EastEnders' after 15 years of serving up pints and dramatic plot twists in the Queen Vic pub.

Windsor, 72, said her role as landlady Peggy Mitchell, which has seen her famously shouting 'Get outta my pub' at startled locals, had changed her life.

"I'll be so sad to leave Peggy behind; she's such a wonderful character to play," she said.

Windsor, who joined the cast in Albert Square in 1994, will make her final exit next year, saying she wanted to spend more time with her husband, Scott Mitchell, whom she married in 2000.

"I'm looking forward to the future and I suppose when all's said and done, I should spend a bit more time with my old man, as he's not getting any younger," she said.

Before EastEnders, Windsor had been mostly known as a comedy actress. She made her film acting debut in The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954 and shot to prominence with the innuendo-laden 'Carry on' series in the 1960s and 70s.