Nicholas Charles "Nick" Cotton is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders played by John Altman on a recurring basis from the soap's debut episode in February 1985, in several separate stints, a regular in 1985 then a recurring character from 1986 to 1989, a regular in 1990 and 1991 with guest appearances in 1993 and 1998 and as a regular from 2000 to 2001, 2008 to 2009 and from 2014 until the character's demise in 2015. Nick is the son of characters Charlie (Christopher Hancock) and Dot Cotton (June Brown), and the father of Charlie (Declan Bennett), Ashley (Frankie Fitzgerald) and Dotty Cotton (Molly Conlin). His storylines have seen him commit the murders of Reg Cox in 1985 and Eddie Royle in 1991, succumb to a heroin addiction, his racism, his attempts to poison hi