ON THE COVER TV Watch
We take a look at some of Dot’s most memorable moments on the Square…
EastEnders stalwart Dot Cotton has never been far away from drama – much of it revolving around her wayward son Nick!
He attempted to poison Dot back in the ’80s to inherit her bingo winnings, pretended to have AIDS in order for Dot to cough up large amounts of cash for “medicine”, made her believe she had dementia and then faked his own death. His final demise was in Dot’s hands, though, when he suffered a bad reaction to drugs. As he slowly died in her arms, she cradled him, but chose not to call an ambulance to save his life.
Dot tackled a massive euthanasia storyline in 2000. Her best friend Ethel was dying and Dot assisted her in doing so, going against her Christian beliefs. Wracked with guilt, Dot felt she should be charged with Ethel’s murder, but the police didn’t believe her, leading to Dot’s shoplifting episode, purely so she would be punished by law for something.
Life improved when she met Jim Branning. He proposed on the London Eye on Christmas Eve and they lived many happy years together, turning her from Dot Cotton to Dot Branning.
Dot was struck down with kidney cancer, only confiding in her close friend, Dennis, who luckily convinced her to go ahead with treatment.
In a nod towards June Brown’s real-life eyesight problems, Dot’s eyes started to fail her. In denial, she locked herself away, but Patrick noticed and accompanied her to the doctor, where she was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration. After treatment though, Dot’s eyes haven’t improved much.
The launderette closed on Christmas Eve 2016 after a refurbishment turned it into a dry cleaner. Dot was let go, struggling to come to terms with the technical terminology during the interview, leaving her feeling useless and alone. With everyone too busy to visit her, though, she found a Christmas mixtape recorded by her now-deceased friend Heather Trott and took in her new love, stray cat, Dave. EastEnders–Mon,Tues, Thurs and Fridays, from 7.30pm,BBCOne.