Bardon has revealed that both he and Brown were sceptical about their characters marrying. In an interview with American fan-based newspaper, "Walford Gazette", he commented, "No way did the pair of us want to get married because we thought if we got married, we'd sit indoors and watch the telly every night. As it happened, we've had some nice things to do. And we are married, and it's worked out all right." Brown has reiterated that she feared Dot would become boring if she married Jim, but that producers persuaded her that the marriage might be a good thing. On-screen, Dot had just suffered the death of her grandson Ashley (in which Nick had played a part), and Brown felt that a traumatic event like that would have changed her character. In her opinion, the only way Dot would have got over Ashley's death "would be to have someone else to care for and when it happened there was nobody with marrying Jim she gets a family – that's what persuaded me. That house will become a house again – it will have a central point, they will be able to use the house as a central point, as Dot will be there."