Charlie Cotton is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Christopher Hancock.

Charlie is a recurring character, introduced in March 1986 as the estranged husband of Dot Cotton (June Brown).

Charlie deserted Dot Cotton (June Brown) in the late 1950s after two years of marriage when she was expecting their son, Nick (John Altman).

He then had an affair with her sister, Rose Taylor (Polly Perkins) and fathered another son, Andrew (Ricky Grover) with her.

He returns to the Square in 1986 after nearly 30 years away and cons Dot into believing he has come back for good and changed his ways and then disappears as soon as he has some of her money.

During this time, he exposes Hazel's (Virginia Fiol) deception about being married to Nick and having his child, which devastates Dot who is enjoying being a grandmother.

Joan Leggett (Rhoda Lewis) comes looking for Charlie several weeks later and tells Dot about their bigamous marriage.

In July 1991, Dot receives news that Charlie has died in a lorry accident but his death is not shown on-screen.

This proves somewhat prophetic as Nick's teenage son, Ashley (Frankie Fitzgerald), is killed in a motorcycle accident some months later.

We then had to kill Charlie because I figured that only in a state of shock and uncertainty about her belief in God would Dot contemplate forgiving Nick and attempting to reform him.

"[3] Actress June Brown was opposed to the killing of Charlie and she attempted to get the programme makers to change their minds.

We weren't thinking just about Christopher Hancock, who played Charlie so well, it was that we liked the character and it seemed a waste.

[4] The character appears one last time, brought back as an apparition/ghost, in a dream sequence experienced by Nick in 2000.