Ashley first appears in Walford along with his mother Zoe Cotton (Elizabeth Chadwick) in 1993, at the age of nine. He meets and becomes close to his grandmother, Dot Cotton (June Brown), who later leaves the square with him, Zoe and Nick to live in Gravesend. Dot leaves Gravesend and returns to the square in 1997 without Ashley or his parents and reveals that Ashley and Zoe have moved away to get away from Nick.
