Author Dorothy Hobson has discussed the use of older female characters in British soap opera as a means of providing comedy. She compares Ethel and Dot's function in "EastEnders" to the trio of Ena Sharples, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst from "Coronation Street" with regard to providing humour. She has noted that following Ethel's retirement from the serial, the production team at "EastEnders" attempted to replicate Dot and Ethel's friendship by introducing a number of "'friends' to fulfill the same function of a female friend for Dot and the series." An example of this was the character Lilly Mattock (Barbara Keogh) who appeared between 1998 and 1999. The author goes on to note that Ethel's role in Dot's narrative was difficult to replace because "far from being complete stereotypes, their relationships depend on them being long-standing friends with the ability to share stories and reminisce. For the characters to 'work', there is a need for unspoken intimacy and a shared knowledge for each other's lives. They carry the internal knowledge of the narratives and share that knowledge with the audience." Brown has spoken about the "wonderful rapport" she had with Gretchen Franklin who played Ethel. She added, "I do miss Ethel, it was great with Dot and Ethel. They did try and stop us working together at one time, but the producer changed and it all went back to where it started."