Because "radical, body-altering" surgery on a long-running character would cause the production team ongoing problems with continuity, it was decided that Peggy would have a "less visible" lumpectomy, rather than a mastectomy. A member of the "EastEnders" production team explained: "We have to think about costume and what it's going to look like afterwards and what we're lumbering ourselves with [...] you have to think of that for a long-term character." Additionally, giving Peggy a lumpectomy at that stage of her disease was viewed favourably by source organisations, as it helped to spread a message that a mastectomy is not necessary in all breast cancer cases. However, the storyline was revisited several times over the next few years. In August 1997, Peggy was given the "all-clear" at her follow-up mammogram, and in March 1999 the cancer returned and she underwent a mastectomy, while in 2000 she had a breast reconstruction. It has been reported that Peggy was the first soap opera character to undergo a mastectomy. BBC Production chief executive Matthew Bannister praised Windsor's portrayal of Peggy coming to terms with a mastectomy, commenting: "It's brought a good deal of comfort and help to us and a lot of other people."