Who is Dotty Cotton in EastEnders and what do we know about actress Milly Zero?

6 March 2020, 12:15

Who is Dotty Cotton from EastEnders?
Who is Dotty Cotton from EastEnders? Picture: BBC/Instagram

How old is Dotty Cotton in EastEnders, who plays her and why was she recast?

Dotty Cotton returned to EastEnders back in October last year to surprise grandmother Dot (June Brown).

But after making her mark on The Square already - who is Dotty Cotton and who plays her on EastEnders? Here's everything you need to know...

Who is Dotty Cotton in EastEnders?

Dotty - or Kirsty - is Nasty Nick Cotton’s daughter which makes her Dot Cotton’s granddaughter.

Dotty’s mum was a woman called Sandy who had a one night stand with Nick.

When she first appeared in Walford in 2008, young Dotty was a troublemaker and was part of a plot with Nick to kill Dot for inheritance money.

Dotty Cotton was originally played by Molly Conlin
Dotty Cotton was originally played by Molly Conlin. Picture: BBC

However, Dotty had a change of heart and ended up bonding with her grandmother.

She originally left The Square in 2010 when she learned that Nick had lied about her mother being dead and went back to live with her, before returning last year.

Read More: Noughts and Crosses fans distracted as EastEnders’ Ben Mitchell makes surprise appearance

Who previously played Dotty Cotton on EastEnders?

Dotty as a child was originally played by Molly Conlin.

Molly was just seven-years-old when she too on the part, and has since appeared in the likes of Horrible Histories, Blandings, Annabel’s Kitchen and Little Miss Jocelyn.

Dotty is now played by actress Milly Zero, which reportedly didn’t go down too well with Molly.

The former EastEnders star previously told The Sun Online: “They did approach me, unfortunately they wanted the new Dotty to go back and appear a lot older and be played by someone in their 20s.

“Of course I would have loved to have returned to EastEnders, but I believe everything happens for a reason.”

Who is new Dotty Cotton actress Milly Zero?

Milly Zero is 20-year-old actress from Peckham in south-east London.

View this post on Instagram

Nye in paris 💙

A post shared by Milly Zero (@milly_zero) on

Before she joined the cast of EastEnders, Milly starred as Hannah in the CBBC series All At Sea.

When it was announced she had been cast as Dotty, Milly previously said: “I am honestly so excited to be playing Dotty Cotton and joining the E20 family, especially playing alongside June Brown, who I have been watching on my telly since I was a young girl.

“Her and Dotty have such an interesting relationship to explore with a complicated history, so I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them. It all feels very surreal and I am buzzing already.”

Read More: EastEnders spoilers: Viewers shocked as Kat Slater reveals she hasn’t seen daughter Zoe Slater in 15 years