Milly Zero quits role as EastEnders’ Dotty Cotton
She will bow out on screen later this year.
Milly Zero is leaving her role as Dotty Cotton in EastEnders.
Dotty is the granddaughter of the legendary Dot Cotton (June Brown), who will be laid to rest in emotional scenes next month. The character was originated by Molly Colin between 2008-2010, with Zero taking over the role in 2019.
The actress has decided to leave the soap for “new challenges”, explaining her decision on Instagram:
‘After three and a half years, I have decided my journey with the icon that is Dotty Cotton has come to an end. I can’t tell you how life changing and incredible my time at EastEnders has been, and how much I am going to miss it, but I am ready for new challenges now. Thank you to everyone that made it so special, I have made friends for life, learnt huge amounts and made memories to last a lifetime.I can’t wait for you all to watch her exit, she goes out with a bang!”
It’s believed that Dotty will leave Walford shortly after her grandma Dot’s funeral, but the Beeb are staying tight-lipped on the exact circumstances surrounding her departure.
After the much lamented death of June Brown in April, the soap is to give closure to her iconic character next month. Dot’s funeral will take place in Walford after she dies in Ireland with a number of old faces returning for the occasion.
Milly recently spoke to The Sun of the funeral scenes, noting that the cast “cried real tears” during the filming of the “beautiful tribute”.
Lofty Holloway and Mary “The Punk” Smith are among those who will be paying their last respects to Dot.
Dot left Albert Square in February 2020 to stay with her grandson Charlie, with Brown revealing in a podcast interview that she had quit the BBC One soap because a promised big storyline had ‘turned into a wet fart’.
EastEnders airs Monday-Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One
