Dot Cotton Dot Cotton Dorothy 'Dot' Branning (also Cotton) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, "EastEnders", played by June Brown since 1985. Dot first appeared in "EastEnders" in July 1985 as the mother of criminal Nick Cotton (John Altman). The character has worked as a launderette assistant for most of that time along with original character Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard). Dot moved away with her son and his family in 1993. In reality, Brown left the show in 1993, unhappy with the axing of her co star Peter Dean, who played Pete Beale from the shows first episode to
Dean Gaffney Theatre Company, performing "The Unexpected Guest". He played Jan, a 19-year-old murder suspect with learning difficulties. He appeared in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's Christmas 2007 Special of "Extras", playing a fictionalised version of himself, working at the Carphone Warehouse with Merchant's character, Darren Lamb, and former "EastEnders" co-star Shaun Williamson. In August 2008, Gaffney did some work for MTV, sharing some of his favourite songs which aired on MTV Hits. The show was named "Dean Gaffney's Well Ard Hits", referring to his fictional dog Wellard on "EastEnders". In September 2008, Gaffney appeared in an advert for the washing powder