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
Mary Flaherty (EastEnders) on holiday in Norfolk and then gets involved with Matthew Rose (Joe Absolom) and Robbie Jackson (Dean Gaffney), before leaving Walford with her father, Conor, and his pregnant lover, Mark's wife Ruth Fowler (Caroline Paterson). They now live in Scotland. It was announced in July 1997 that Pauline Fowler's (Wendy Richard) long lost family were to be introduced into "EastEnders". Melanie Clark Pullen secured the role and made her first appearance on 22 September 1997. There were hints that the character would move to Albert Square in the future, which is what ultimately happened. Richie Taylor of the "Daily Mirror"