Dot Branning

Do-gooder
Full Name	Dorothy Colwell (birth name)
Alias(es)	Dot Cotton Dot Branning
Origin	Eastenders (1985)
Occupation	Laundrette worker (retired)
Powers / Skills	No information
Hobby	Gossiping with her friends
Goals	Help her son Nick get clean and step away from a life of crime (failed) Allow Nick to die to spare any future pain for his victims (succeeded)
Family	Charlie Cotton (first husband; deceased) Jim Branning (second husband; deceased) Nick Cotton (son; deceased) Dotty Cotton (granddaughter) Bradley Branning (grandson; deceased) Charlie Cotton, Jr (grandson) Ashley Cotton (grandson; deceased)
Friends / Allies	Ethel Skinner (deceased) Lou Beale (deceased) Pauline Fowler (deceased) Den Watts (deceased) Ian Beale Heather Trott (deceased)
Enemies	Nick Cotton Joe Macer
Type of Hero	Religious Maternal Figure

Dot Branning (formerly Cotton) is a fictional character and one of the central protagonists of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Dot was a Christian devoted residence of Albert Square, East London and the son of the villainous Nick Cotton.

She is portrayed by the late June Brown.

Biography

Dot Cotton spent most of her life in Albert Square. In her youth she married the villainous Charlie Cotton and gave birth to their son Nick, although Charlie became absent in their life. Dot attempted to raise Nick the best she could through the teachings of the Bible, but Nick became a villain himself. Nick would terrorise the residents of Albert Square for decades, although Dot with still believe there was good in her son.

She worked at the local laundrette and befriend several women throughout the years such as Heather Trott and Pauline Fowler. Her best friends from youth also included Ethel Skinner and Lou Beale, who Dot would enjoy sharing gossip with. Lou would pass away in the late 1990s. In 1993, Dot left the square to live with Nick and his family, although ended up returning there in 1997 when Nick ended up back in prison and his wife left him. Dot resumed her duties at the laundrette.

In November 2000 Nick returned to the square with his now older son Ashley. Ashley came to live with Dot and grew close to her, although he shared roguish traits like his father. Ashley died in 2001 after stealing and crashing Mark Fowler's motorbike, the breaks having been cut by Nick in an attempt to murder Mark. Dot found out the truth and disowned Nick and he left the square. Although years later, she would forgive Nick after he was diagnosed with cancer while serving another prison sentence.

In 2002, Dot found love again when she met Jim Branning. The pair of them married after Jim had proposed to Dot during a ride on the Eye of Wheel during a trip into London.

On Christmas Day 2006, Pauline was found dead in the square, having been attacked with a frying pan. After the New Year Dot discovered that the culprit was Pauline's second husband Joe Macer, who attacked Pauline out of anger after she belittled him. During a struggle Joe crashed through a window and fell to his death.

Earlier that year Jim's grandson Bradley came to visit his father. Bradley's father and Jim's son Max Branning came into Jim's life after many years, but had a dislike towards his father due to Jim's past abuse of his children and being a former racist. Dot stood by her husband due to how much he changed. In 2008 Jim suffered a stroke, and temporally went into a care home.

On Christmas Day 2008, Nick returned to the square with his daughter Dotty and left her in the care of Dot. It soon transpired that Nick had plotted with Dotty to murder Dot to get her money. Dotty had a change of heart and poisoned her father. Nick held the local café hostage in April 2009, and was caught in a fire when an oven caught on fire. Nick survived the incident and fled the square, warning Dot that Dotty is evil.

Jim had returned to the Cotton household in 2009, although still suffered the side-effects of his stroke and struggled to speak. Dotty played a prank on Jim by dousing his trousers in water to make it look like he wet himself, and an infuriated Dot spanked her, causing Sonia Fowler to report Dot to the authorities. Dotty later returned to the custody of her mother, who Nick had claimed was dead. In 2011 Jim went into a care home full-time when Dot struggled to take care of him, and she bid farewell to her husband before he was taken away in an ambulance.

In early 2014, Dot was informed that Nick was dead and he was given a burial. Her grandson Charlie arrived on the square. This turned out to be a ruse as Nick returned on Halloween 2014, under a new alias. Nick was still up to his old tricks and he ended up causing Charlie's wife Ronnie Mitchell to be in a car crash. Nick hid away in the ruins of a building on the square, and Dot began helping him by bringing food and drink, and later heroin. Nick ended up taking dodgy heroin and became seriously unwell. Dot decided not to call an ambulance on Nick due to all the evil he has caused, and decided it was for Jesus to decide his fate. In his final moments Nick apologised for all the pain he caused Dot throughout her life and asked for forgiveness, and subsequently passed away.

Nick's body is discovered a week later. Dot takes the blame for allowing his demise, and is arrested. She is widowed a second time when Jim passes away in the care home. Dot is freed from prison several months following Nick's death.

Dot later retired from the laundrette. In January 2020, Dot left Albert Square for good and went to live with her grandson Charlie in Ireland. Dot passed away in late 2022, and her body was returned to her home and she was given a burial, with her friends and family in attendance.

Trivia

• June Brown appears for a total of 2280 episodes as Dot Cotton/Branning on EastEnders.
• The character had an off-screen exit in January 2020, and she left a voicemail as a goodbye to Sonia Fowler. June Brown ruled out a future return to the show, and later passed away in 2022.