Should Dot Cotton have been smoking in the workplace?

I saw that too and wondered, she's not supposed to do that!

Actually it's not a fantasy world, the writers of EE try very hard to have real life stories on their program. Hence why Mercy is getting married to Fat Boy... Because the immigration rules have changed with marriage and their doing a story on that.

Worse than that was the significant mug of wine she swigged whilst on duty. Still, would YOU walk into a laundrette slap-bang in the centre of East London, and proceed to cite health and safety regulations to the proprietor within? Unlikely!

Mr. Hoppadoppolis is clearly letting things slide.

Smoking and drinking on the job? Tut tut tut... I think Dot is the exception of the no smoking rule.

It's a fantasy world where the normal rules don't apply so the BBC can do as it likes.