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
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders) Sam Mitchell (EastEnders) Sam Mitchell (also Butcher and Hunter) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera "EastEnders". The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam enters as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. Westbrook quit in 1993, but Sam was reintroduced from 1995–1996 and from 1999–2000. In both her 1996 and 2000 exits, Sam was written out earlier than the producers intended due to off-screen controversies surrounding Westbrook and her cocaine addiction. In 2002, the character was reintroduced for a fourth time, but the role was recast to another actress,