National treasure June Brown says she made her Eastenders character Dot Branning to be more Christian like her.

Brown is a Christian in real life and has played Dot, also a Christian in the show, since 1985.

Dot can often been seen in Eastenders dishing out Bible verses and her time-proven advice on the importance of forgiveness to the show's other, often troubled characters.

Brown told the BBC's Sunday Morning Live that the original character was not so religious and that she on occasion edited the script, with the result is that over the years Dot's faith has come to more closely resemble her own real life faith.

Her comments suggest she doesn't always feel the scriptwriters do the portrayal of Christians enough justice.

She said: "I can tell if the script has been written by an atheist or an agnostic."

She continued: "I think I've made Dot more like me, it's something I've done which I don't approve of because I think you should play characters like they're written but they don't always write the prayers and the behaviour for a Christian into it.

"And I'm afraid that I have changed it [the script]. Her faith and my faith has changed her.

"She was a kindergarten Christian, someone who thinks of God as being a man in the sky, someone who has no real knowledge and hasn't really bothered to try and read anything."

And Brown admitted she was encouraged by England football player Daniel Sturridge and his openness about his own Christian faith.

"When he scored a goal he said 'I love you Jesus, I thank you for everything!'. And that is the true way to pray," she said.