Ashley Cotton is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 from the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 EastEnders

EastEnders

EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

, the son of Zoe and Nick Cotton

Nick Cotton

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, through to his last appearance to date in 2009. Nick is the son of characters Charlie and Dot Cotton, and the father of Ashley and...

 and the grandson of Charlie

Charlie Cotton

Charles "Charlie" Cotton is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Christopher Hancock. Charlie was a semi-regular character, introduced in March 1986 as the estranged husband of Dot Cotton. He appeared in stints until producers made the decision to kill the character...

 and Dot Cotton

Dot Branning

Dorothy "Dot" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by June Brown since 1985. In a special episode entitled EastEnders: Dot's Story a young Dot was played by Tallulah Pitt-Brown in flashbacks. Dot first appeared in EastEnders in July 1985 as the mother of...

, played by Ryan Devonshire in 1993 and then by Frankie Fitzgerald

Frankie Fitzgerald

-Career:Fitzgerald trained at The Webber Douglas Academy of Performing arts, completing his three year course in 2006. His career however started much earlier when he landed his first professional role at just 15...

 in 2000.

Storylines

Ashley first appeared in Albert Square

Albert Square

Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. The square's design was based on the real life Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after the real...

 along with mother Zoe in 1993, at the age of nine. He met and became close to his grandma Dot, who later left the square with him, Zoe and Nick to live in Gravesend

Gravesend, Kent

Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...

. Dot left Gravesend and returned to the square in 1997 without Ashley or his parents and revealed Ashley and Zoe had moved away off-screen to get away from Nick. Ashley returned to the square briefly in July 2000 to visit Dot for a few days. It was obvious he had taken after his father when he got up to mischief.

Then in October 2000 in a special spin-off

Spin-off (media)

In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 episode titled The Return of Nick Cotton Nick had been out of prison and reunited with Ashley and Zoe. Ashley wanted to come with Nick despite Zoe's reluctance so he and Nick got into a car and decided to travel around a bit before returning to Walford.

When they returned to Walford together and settled in with Dot, Ashley was under the influence of his villainous father Nick and started taking drugs and got involved in robberies with Nick.

After a series of arguments with both sides of his family he drifted between each of his parents until a fateful summer evening in June 2001. He stole Mark Fowler

Mark Fowler

Mark Albert Fowler is a fictional character from the popular British BBC soap opera EastEnders. Mark was an original regular character in the series starting February 1985 but became a semi-regular after his original portrayer David Scarboro was written out of the role in April 1985. Scarboro made...

's motorbike after an argument in the Queen Vic, without knowing that his father had cut the bike's brakes in hope of killing Mark.

Nick, Pauline Fowler

Pauline Fowler

Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional London borough of Walford. She was played by actress Wendy Richard between 1985 and 2006. Pauline was created by scriptwriter Tony Holland and producer...

and Dot shouted at Ashley to stop but he continued racing the bike until he came face-to-face with a pedestrian. Ashley swerved to avoid the pedestrian and braked sharply, but the motorbike flipped over a pavement and Ashley crashed into the laundrette. 17-year-old Ashley died instantly and Nick was riddled with guilt. Dot later overheard an argument between Mark Fowler and Nick, discovering that Nick was responsible for Ashley's death. After Ashley's funeral, Dot confronted Nick and threw him out of the house; it would be the last time she saw him for five years.