Dotty Cotton

Kirsty "Dotty" Cotton is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Molly Conlin from 2008 to 2010 and Milly Zero from 2019 to 2022. She was introduced on 26 December 2008 as the daughter of established character Nick Cotton (John Altman). Nick uses Dotty as his partner-in-crime; they plan to kill his mother Dot Branning (June Brown) and inherit the money from her will. She and Dot subsequently become close after Dotty sabotages Nick's murder attempt at the last minute. In her final storyline which aired on 23 February 2010, she left with her mother Sandy (Caroline Pegg/Martha Cope), who she believed died. On 3 October 2019, Dotty returned, with the role recast to Milly Zero. In December 2021, Sandy tells her that she is not Nick's daughter and that her father is Tom "Rocky" Cotton (Brian Conley). However, in September 2022, this is revealed to be a lie. On 13 November 2022, it was announced that Zero had quit the show and Dotty left on 16 December 2022.

Initially, critics disliked Dotty Cotton. Jane Simon from The Daily Mail criticised her accent. Critics from The Daily Mirror and The Guardian were glad to see her leave. However, executive producer Diederick Santer praised Conlin for her portrayal of Dotty, whilst both Brown and Altman opined that the storyline was one of their highlights.