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Nick Cotton

Contents 1 Overview 2 Family ties 3 Summary 4 Return to Walford 5 Blackmailing Billy 6 The Explosion at the cafe 7 Related links

Overview

Character:	Nick Cotton
Played by:	John Altman
First appeared:	19 February 1985
Dates on screen:	1985-1991, 1993, 1998, 2000-2001, 2008-2009
Final appearance:	2 June 2009

Family ties

Father:	Charlie Cotton
Mother:	Dot Branning
Half brothers:	Andrew Cotton
Sons:	Ashley Cotton
Daughters:	Dotty Cotton
Aunts:	Rose Cotton
Cousins:	Andrew Cotton

Summary

Nick Cotton was Walford's original bad lad. Responsible for at least two murders (Reg Cox and Eddie Royle) (but not convicted of either), Nick spent his life in and out of prison and generally making Dot's life a misery (a family trait evidently). A heroin addict, early on he led Mark Fowler into delinquency. He also got Mary Smith on the game & tried to pimp her. Later he tried to poison Dot for her bingo money! On his return to Walford in 2000, Nick pushed Mark Fowler too far so Mark pushed him off of a roof, crippling Nick & leaving him dependant upon his mum, Dot Cotton. Dot finally disowned him when a family feud led to son Ashley Cotton being killed in a motorbike accident. Nick left Walford in a wheelchair, still crying his plaintive "Mum!"

Return to Walford

On Christmas Day 2008, Nick returned to Walford with his daughter Dotty Cotton. Dot Cotton was suspicious at first because she knew was Nick was like, but changed her mind thinking he had changed.

However on 6th Janurary 2009, Dot caught Nick drinking and he later confessed that he only came back because he saw Dot had won some money. He offered to sell Dotty to her in exchange for the money and told her she had two days to think about it, in the end Dot agreed and Dotty moved in.

A few days later he returned saying he needed to speak to Dotty (whose real name is Kirsty). Dotty then told Nick that if they killed Dot, they would get £50,000 from her life insurance due to premature death, Nick then gave dotty a mobile phone so she could contact him.

Nick returned in April 2009 when Dotty rang him up saying everything was going to plan and that Dot had put Dotty in her will and left everything to her. On 20th April 2000, Nick tried to get into Dot's house becuase he said he wanted to see his daughter. Max Branning saw this and helped Dot out by getting Nick to stop pestering her for a while.

A few days later when Nick visited he said he was worried about Dot because she kept "losing" personal belongings, Dot said she was fine, but later that day she found her purse was in the over and had been burnt, which had been put in there by Nick (unkown to Dot). Thinking she was losing her marbles, Dot rang Nick and asked for him to stay a while.

On 1st May 2009 when Nick was settling in, he hid took Dot's gloves out of Dot's coat pocket and watched while she was trying to find them.

Blackmailing Billy

A few days later Nick overheard Billy Mitchell telling Dot that he hid in the bathroom while Jase Dyer got beaten up and eventually killed. Nick later told Billy what he heard and said that if Billy didn't give him £100 then Nick would tell Jay Brown the truth. Billy paid him the money by stealing Tracey's wages and then letting Shirley Carter take the rap for it which resulted in her losing her job. As a result of Shirley now being on his tail, Nick has now demanded an extra £50 from Billy to stop him telling all to Shirley. Billy eventually tired of being blackmailed by Nick, and when caught stealing money from Phil Mitchell, Billy confessed he was being blackmailed. This led to a violent confrontation in the cellar of the Queen Vic between Phil, Billy and Nick. After 'roughing' Nick up for a while Billy decided the best option was to come clean about everything with Jay.

The Explosion at the cafe

Nick then turned his attention back to trying to poison his 'ma'. He and Dotty had had to put that plan on hold for a while after Dr Jenkins started to show an interest and then Syd and Noah moved in whilst their flat was flooded. Nick's grand plan was to kill Dot with her pills, having put months of work into this playing mind games with her and making everyone think she was losing it. He asked Dotty to kill her grandma by putting pills in her cup of tea making everyone think she'd taken an overdose.

Dotty gave the signal to her father that she'd done this. Nick re-entered Dot's house, and on seeing his ma lying on the settee and genuinely thinking his ma was dead, he looked genuinely sad before heading through to the kitchen for a beer which Dotty handed to him. After Dot walked into the kitchen alive and well, Dotty was forced to confess that she hadn't killed her grandma after all. She had in fact put the tablets in Nick's beer. When Nick realised what she'd done his mood immediately changed making him drunk and violent. This scared Dotty but she managed to escape and ran to safety at the Launderette.

There, she confessed all to her grandma. Patrick Trueman entered the Launderette concerned about Dot and together the two of them decided to hunt down Nick leaving Dotty in the Launderette alone. Whilst they were away Nick entered the Launderette and abducted Dotty bundling her into the back of his car. As he was leaving the Square Nick crashed the car into the flower stall outside Kathy's Cafe.

Having been rendered useless by the crash, the car could take them no further so Nick grabbed Dotty out of the car and into the cafe which was being minded by Heather Trott and Lucy Beale. Once in the cafe when her father let go, Dotty ran over to one corner to get away from her dad. Nick however had other intentions and, breaking the stool leg off a stool to use as a weapon, he held everyone in the cafe hostage threatening that he was going to harm Dotty if anyone challenged him. Christian Clarke wandered by the cafe and was annoyed to find that it was shut as well as Beale's Plaice! Eventually realising that the reason behind the cafe's closure was more sinister than the reason at Beale's Plaice, the locals tried to break down the door of the cafe but were unable to do so.

Back inside the cafe as Lucy and Heather were unable to get into the kitchen, eventually the chip pan caught fire. The fire spread quickly. Fearing for everyone's lives, eventually Ryan knocked Nick to the floor and started to fight with him giving everyone else the chance to escape. Once everyone else had escaped, Ryan also left leaving Nick bloodied and bruised on the floor.

Outside the cafe, Bradley Branning decides that he cannot stand back and leave Nick in there so runs back into the cafe to rescue him. Nick however is not wanting rescued as he knows he will go down for this. Bradley tries in vain to save him but Nick simply vanishes into the toilet. As he does Bradley hears a noise, looks up and the cafe blew up.

Bradley spent a week in hospital but is now on the road to recovery.

Nick returned to Walford to pick up his things. When doing this he bumps into his ma and tells her that the idea was all Dotty's and it's Dotty she should really be looking out for.

Nick has left Walford and is again on the run from the Police.

Related links

Original characters
Ian Beale · Kathy Beale · Lou Beale · Pete Beale · Kelvin Carpenter · Tony Carpenter · Nick Cotton · Arthur Fowler · Mark Fowler · Michelle Fowler · Pauline Fowler · George "Lofty" Holloway · Naima Jeffery · Saeed Jeffery · Dr Harold Legg · Andy O'Brien · Ali Osman · Sue Osman · Ethel Skinner · Mary Smith · Angie Watts · Den Watts · Sharon Watts · Debbie Wilkins
Babies: Hassan Osman · Annie Smith

The Cotton family
Charlie Cotton · Nick Cotton · Ashley Cotton · Dotty Cotton
Spouses: Dot Branning · Zoe Newton