Scott Mitchell – ‘By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara Windsor’ review

Scott Mitchell’s memoir, ‘By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara Windsor’, is an honest, emotive, raw account of his twenty-seven years loving Britain’s national treasure, Dame Barbara Windsor, including their twenty-year marriage, until she lost her battle with dementia in December 2020. Mitchell also details his own battles with anxiety and addiction, as well as the truth about their relationship from their early days until Barbara’s last days in the London care home. 

We grew up with Barbara Windsor, perhaps listening to her raucous giggles with the Carry On team in one of the nine films she starred in, or as Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders, a role she portrayed for over twenty years. You may have seen her star opposite a former ‘Doctor Who’ star, Jon Pertwee, in ‘Worzel Gummidge’, or on stages up and down the country, in one of the many plays and pantomimes she performed in throughout her life, the theatre being her first love. 

In 2000, after seven years together, Windsor married Scott Mitchell, her third husband and the man who would be her last love. In ‘By Your Side’, Mitchell keeps his promise to his Bar to tell their truth, acknowledged in the prologue, “make sure you tell the true story of how things really were for us, what went on between us and who we were together. Will you do that, love?” What follows is an intense look at two souls who can’t stay away from each other, showing the good, bad and the ugly truths.

‘By Your Side’ could have been a one-sided version of a love story that had many eyes on it, notably for the twenty-six year age difference, and the question of finance, which plagued the couple. Instead it’s a heartwarming insight into a relationship that survived almost three decades.

However, it’s the insights into Barbara’s dementia diagnosis, both in private and public, that are simply heart breaking. Mitchell presents the last few years of their life together in a way that will resonate with families around the world fighting the devastating disease. It’s predicted that by 2030 dementia will cost the UK economy £30bn a year. In the epilogue of this memoir, Mitchell describes his fundraising to support Alzheimer’s Research UK, including running the London Marathon. 

In August 2022, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the £95million Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission. 

Publisher: Seven Dials Release date: 13th October 2022 Buy ‘By Your Side: My Life Loving Barbara Windsor’ now