TV star to wed after getting cancer news

LONDON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- British TV actress Wendy Richard said she decided to move up her wedding date to her longtime partner after learning she had an aggressive form of cancer.

Richard, who was a cast member of "EastEnders" for more than two decades, has been with her boyfriend John Banks for 13 years. The 65-year-old actress, who also starred in the TV comedy "Are You Being Served?" in the 1970s and 1980s, has twice battled breast cancer and was this year told the disease had spread to her right kidney and bones. She is scheduled to start chemotherapy Monday, the BBC said.

"We were going to get married anyway, but when we got the diagnosis, we decided to push ahead and get married now. There was no rush before," Richard told the British broadcaster.

Expected to attend the weekend ceremony at a hotel in London's Mayfair section are Todd Carty, who played Richard's son on "EastEnders," as well as her other former co-stars Barbara Windsor and Natalie Cassidy.

Richard's' dog Lily is also said to be invited to the wedding.

The couple's honeymoon in the United States has been put on hold until Richard completes her treatment for the disease, the BBC said.