Dame Barbara Windsor is to return to the BBC in a new radio documentary, it has been revealed.

She will front the first episode of ‘Double Acts’, a new Radio 2 series which will centre around different comedy duos.

Her episode – recorded in April, a month before husband Scott Mitchell went public with her Alzheimer’s diagnosis – will focus specifically on the American comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.

She said: “I remember watching Abbott and Costello in my teens and I absolutely loved them.

“I’m happy to pay tribute to them as two of America’s leading funny men.”

Other episodes of the four-part series will centre around Laurel and Hardy, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and the female comedy duo Gert And Daisy.

Barbara Windsor made a brief TV appearance weeks after her husband revealed that she was living with the condition, pre-recording an audio message for ‘Loose Women’ presenter Jane Moore’s birthday.

She said: “I’d also like to say a big thank you to everyone for the lovely messages of support that I’ve been receiving, it really means such a lot to me, it truly does.

“Have a great day and have no fear, as I still intend to carry on, and God bless everyone.”

It was Jane Moore who Scott sat down with, in an interview with The Sun, to first share his wife’s diagnosis, while a number of her close friends have also shared updates in the weeks that followed, including Paul O’Grady, Christopher Biggins and her former ‘EastEnders’ co-star Ross Kemp.

Barbara’s episode of ‘Double Acts’ will go out on BBC Radio 2 on 25 July at 9pm.