EastEnders' Milly Zero on Dotty's reaction to Sandy's ultimatum

EastEnders spoilers follow.

EastEnders star Milly Zero has weighed in on her character Dotty Cotton's rocky relationship with her mum, Sandy Gibson. After her mum (played by Martha Cope) returns to Walford, Dotty is both shocked and relieved after she disappeared a few weeks ago.

"Dotty had no idea where she was, she could only assume the worse knowing her mum and the kind of situations that she tends to get in with her drug abuse," Zero said.

"She could be dead, she could be in hospital so Dotty has literally been pulling her hair out worrying about her mum. When she sees her mum she’s super relived that she’s back and that she’s safe," she added.

Kieron McCarron / Jack Barnes//BBC

Dotty gives Sandy a place to stay, but things don't go quite as planned when the woman clashes with Tiffany Butcher (Maisie Smith).

Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota) then offers Dotty and Sandy a bedsit which his family own, but Sandy tells her daughter she will only stay on one difficult condition.

"Dotty will go to extreme lengths to help her mum, if someone asked her that question, she’d probably go like oh no I wouldn’t go that far but when it comes down to it, she will do anything," Zero said.

"There is no boundary between her and her mum and her mum knows that, her mum knows that Dotty is weak when it comes to her and she really exploits that. So I think you really see a vulnerable side of Dotty when it comes to what her mum asks her to do."

sandy gibson and dotty cotton in eastenders

Kieron McCarron / Jack Barnes//BBC

Happy to have her mum back, Dotty also attempts to help the woman get clean by offering her the money for a spot in rehab. Disappointingly, Sandy seems more interested in the money than in getting the support she needs.

"Deep down [Dotty] isn’t that naïve and she’s been through it before where her mum’s got clean and then got back on the drugs," Zero said of her character.

"She knows that this might be something that they will be facing for the rest of their lives but she still clings onto that little hope that this might be the time that everything’s different."

EastEnders airs on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One.