1 Anna Wing:

The Cockney actress, who died in 2013, played matriarch Lou Beale.

2 Wendy Richard:

The saucy Miss Brahms of Are You Being Served played The Square's troubled Pauline Fowler.

3 Gillian Taylforth: Pauline's glamorous friend Kathy Beale, her character was killed in a road accident.

4 Leslie Grantham: Dirty Den was one of the most hated soap opera characters in UK history.

5 Anita Dobson: Den's wife Angie Watts had a notoriously bad time with him and 'drank herself to death' in 2002.

6 Gretchen Franklin: The nation mourned when Ethel Skinner's dog, Lille Willy, died.

7 Adam Woodyatt: Kathy and Pete Beale's son Ian is still a regular 29 years down the line.

8 John Altman: The evil Nick Cotton was nobbled for the murder of Reg Cox in episode One.

9 Bill Treacher: The down-trodden Arthur Fowler who spent most of his time 'down the allotment'.

10 Leonard Fenton: As Dr Harold Legg, he played Walford's resident GP until he retired in 1999.