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
Peter Beale was reported that Peter was to return to the series, played by Ben Hardy. He said of his casting: "I'm really excited to be joining the fantastic cast of "EastEnders"—a show which my family have watched for years. I can't wait to step into the shoes of a character with so much history and am looking forward to getting stuck in." Executive producer Lorraine Newman said, "Ben's a wonderful addition to the "EastEnders" cast and I am sure he will be popular with the audience. Having Peter back in the Beale fold helps cement the next generation of the Beale