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
Letitia Dean leave the soap in 1995. Six years after her initial exit, Dean was lured back to "EastEnders" by producer John Yorke, where she reprised the role of Sharon from 2001 to 2006. In December 2004 the "Sunday Mirror" reported that executive producer Kathleen Hutchison offered to double Dean's salary from £150,000 a year to £300,000 a year, to persuade her to remain in the show, making her one of the highest paid actresses in British soap. Dean's character left the serial again in January 2006. Dean's exit was announced in August 2005 and an official "EastEnders" press report stated that