Charlie Cotton - Storylines

Storylines

He first appears in the soap in 1986 as the long absent husband of Dot Cotton (June Brown) and father of Nick Cotton (John Altman). He had deserted Dot after two years of marriage when she was pregnant with Nick. He is known as a shifty and manipulative conman, conning Dot into believing he has come back for good and changed his ways and then disappearing as soon as he has some of her money. He then had an affair with her sister Rose (Polly Perkins) and even had children with her away from Walford.

In 1987 he meets his son Nick for the first time when they both coincidentally turn up to visit Dot. Charlie and Nick hate each other and both try to get rid of each other so they can get the opportunity to con Dot. Charlie discovers Nick has cheated some of his friends out of money and has been involved in some house burglaries, and that is why he is hiding at Dot's house.

He uses this to try to get rid of him by teaming with Graham Clark (Gary Webster) who is an old friend of Nick and wants to get back at him for going to prison for Nick's crime. Graham forces Nick to leave Walford and before Nick leaves he reveals to Dot that Charlie grassed him to the people who were looking for him. Dot gets angry and tells Charlie to leave too.

In 1989 it is revealed Charlie has a bigamous marriage to a woman called Joan Leggett, who turns up in Walford looking for him and meets Dot instead. Eventually Charlie also arrives and finds his 'double life' has been exposed. It is revealed he had told Joan his name was Tommy.

In 1990 when he returns to con Dot out of her bingo money he finds that his son Nick is already plotting to steal her winnings by poisoning her, but Nick soon backs out with the persuasion of Charlie. Unfortunately just when Charlie is trying to tell Dot that Nick was going to poison her and he stopped him, Dot tells him to leave once again, not believing that Nick would do such a thing.

In July 1991 Dot receives news that Charlie has died in a lorry accident but his death is not shown on-screen. However, in October 2000 he returns briefly as a ghost in his son Nick's dream in a special spin-off episode The Return of Nick Cotton. He warns Nick that something terrible is about to happen.

In 2011, it is revealed that Charlie had married Dot's sister Rose (Polly Perkins) and fathered her son Andrew (Ricky Grover) whilst still married to Dot, meaning Charlie was a double-bigamist. Dot blames Rose for Charlie's disloyalty and initially refuses to speak or acknowledge her, but Rose convinces Dot that Charlie was lying to both of them and he is not worth wasting her energy on.