It has been speculated that Windsor based Peggy on Violet Kray, mother of the infamous East End gangsters, the Kray twins; however Windsor has denied this. Instead, she claims that Peggy is based on women she has seen in East End pubs and her own mother: "women whose hair is great and their outfits are more Walthamstow market, they get it wrong slightly...Some things I've done with Peggy is from my Mum. She was one of those East End snobs. I drew on all of those experiences." In a 2009 radio interview with Dale Winton, Windsor said three people have influenced her portrayal of Peggy: Violet Kray (thus retracting her earlier statement), her own mother, and the actor Mike Reid, who played her on-screen husband Frank Butcher.