Leslie Grantham
Encyclopedia
Leslie Michael Grantham is an English
actor
best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts
in the soap opera
EastEnders
. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal in 2004.
, London
, the son of Adelaide (nee Flinders) and Walter William Grantham (1915–1998), and enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers regiment of the British Army
in 1962, at the age of 15. On 3 December 1966 he attempted to rob a German taxi driver, Felix Reese. A struggle between Grantham and the driver followed, and Reese died from a gunshot wound to the head. In his statement to the police following his arrest, he claimed that he did not know the gun was loaded and it had gone off during a struggle with the taxi driver. He was subsequently convicted of murder
, a surprise verdict after being advised by his lawyer that a manslaughter
verdict would probably be returned.
Grantham was sentenced to life imprisonment
at his trial in 1967. Although he had committed the killing in Osnabrück
, Germany, he served the entirety of his imprisonment in various British prisons. This was because soldiers and officers convicted of any criminal offence that warrants a sentence of over two years are automatically transferred to HM Prison Service, since they are also automatically dishonourably discharged. Grantham was released in 1977, having served 10 years. While he was in Leyhill Prison
, he acted in several plays for inmates and members of the public, and edited the prison newspaper. He was encouraged to get more involved in acting professionally by disgraced politician T. Dan Smith
, who had also been an inmate at Leyhill. He also met actress Louise Jameson
during her visit to Leyhill in the mid 1970s; she had also encouraged him to take up acting.
. He became good friends with the actress Louise Jameson
, and made his first television appearance as Kiston in a 1984 episode of Doctor Who - Resurrection of the Daleks
. He then appeared as a Signals Sergeant in episode 12 of the mini TV series The Jewel in the Crown. He also wrote a play entitled A Reason To Live, which won the Gloucester Drama Festival award for best original play. In 1985, he made a brief appearance in the film Morons from Outer Space
, but by the time this film was released, Grantham had found fame in quite a different environment.
for a part in its new soap opera
EastEnders
, which was due to go on air in February 1985. He'd been encouraged by director Matthew Robinson, who had directed his Doctor Who serial the previous year and was to become a key member of the EastEnders
production team. Grantham had auditioned for the role of market trader Pete Beale
, but he got the part of Dennis Watts. The character, landlord of the Queen Victoria public house, quickly became a national favourite and gained the nickname Dirty Den mostly because of the way he treated his wife Angie, played by Anita Dobson
, and at the age of 39 he fathered a child with 16-year-old Michelle Fowler
.
On Christmas Day 1986, Grantham's character served his on-screen wife with divorce papers, with the famous line - "Happy Christmas Ange" and the episode was watched by a record 30 million viewers - over half the British population. In 1988 the character Den Watts sold his pub to Frank Butcher
and gradually drifted out of key storylines until finally departing in February 1989. Den had got involved with The Firm
and his only option was to flee the square. Viewers watched a mysterious gunman shoot at Den with a gun hidden in a bunch of daffodils, before hearing a splash. A shot depicting Den's death was cut from the final scene, as the show's producers hoped that Grantham might one day be persuaded to return to the role. The following year, a body believed to be Den's was found in the canal, although again, not shown on screen. In the early 90s there was a reference to the possibility that Den was still alive, when daughter Sharon found his jewellery for sale in a stall.
alongside Don Henderson
. He went on to appear in many more television series such as Cluedo
as Colonel Mustard, The Detectives
(1993) and 99-1 (1993-4). In 1994 he narrated Volume One of Frank Harris
's erotic classic My Life and Loves
.
In 1997 he produced and starred in the sci-fi mini-series The Uninvited.
He then became best known as the co-host of the game show
Fort Boyard
alongside Melinda Messenger
which he presented from 1998 to 2001. He also reunited with his EastEnders co-star Anita Dobson in a one-off television film titled The Stretch which aired on ITV
in 2000 and in a 2004 British gangster film titled Charlie.
It had been revealed he survived the shooting and fled to Spain, with the help of former mistress Jan Hammond, while the body found a year later in the Canal was wrongly identified. Over 17 million people watched one of the most anticipated TV events of the year on Monday 29 September as Den spoke the famous words, "Hello, princess".
There had been much speculation in the media after Den's departure as to whether the character really was dead. BBC bosses said that Den's return had been on the agenda almost every year since the character's departure in 1989, and the first offer for him to return had been made as long ago as 1991. But Grantham had turned down every offer to return until the one made to him in early 2003, feeling that his character did not have adequate links to the show for a comeback to be anything more than a publicity stunt - particularly when Den's daughter Sharon was away from the show from 1995 to 2001, which left Den without any family in the cast. By 2003, however, his daughter Vicki had rejoined the cast and a previously unknown son called Dennis Rickman
(played by Nigel Harman
) was also in the series - the product of an affair between Den and a young woman called Paula Rickman, 30 years earlier.
Den's former on-screen wife Angie had left the show in 1988, and actress Anita Dobson
was made several offers to return to the show, but turned each one down and felt that the character would be ruined if she made a comeback. BBC bosses finally gave up on having Angie back in the show and the character died off-screen in 2002.
In December 2004, Dirty Den arranged a scam to get back the Queen Vic from Sam Mitchell
; 16 years after he had sold it to Frank Butcher
.
whilst sucking his finger in a sexually-suggestive manner via a webcam
from his dressing room to an undercover reporter named "Amanda". Amanda logged onto MSN Messenger, calling herself "Halo Polisher" and was soon chatting to Grantham who called himself kwanertoo - explaining it was a play on the word wanker
.
He also allegedly dressed as Captain Hook
whilst pleasuring himself, shared his sexual fantasies about animals, insulted several cast members of EastEnders (including Shane Richie
, Wendy Richard
, Kim Medcalf
and Jessie Wallace
) and made comments regarding the poor quality of the scripts. Grantham released a statement which read, "I am wholeheartedly ashamed of my behaviour and feel that I have let down my colleagues, as well as my friends and family." He also added, "In some small recompense I intend to make a donation to charity as a mark of my apology." He maintained in later interviews that he 'was set up'.
He had apparently described co-star Shane Richie
(who played Alfie Moon
) as "self-infatuated", but Richie subsequently stated that Grantham had been forgiven by the cast and they were happy to joke with him about it.
On 18 February 2005, 16.2 million viewers tuned in to view his character's second demise, this time at the hands of new wife Chrissie, who hit him over the head with a dog-shaped iron doorstop after he attacked her during an argument. Grantham's departure from the soap was reportedly the result of adverse newspaper publicity generated by the actor's Internet
sex scandal months earlier for which he had initially received a suspension from the programme, although he has stated that he did not want to renew his contract.
In his autobiography, which was released in October 2006, Grantham sought to put an end to the rumours that he was dismissed from EastEnders by asserting that his return to EastEnders was only ever going to be for 18 months, in order for his second demise to coincide with the show's 20th anniversary. In 2008 he told Sky's "Top 50 Showbiz Comebacks" "The intention for me to go back was only ever to kill the character off."
Six months after Den's last appearance, he returned again, this time as a corpse. Sam Mitchell was arrested after being caught digging up a body in the basement of the Queen Vic. The body was quickly identified as Den's, and Sam was charged with his murder. In October 2005, Sam's brothers Phil and Grant returned to Walford and managed to put her in the clear by obtaining a tape-recorded confession by the real killer, Chrissie, who was promptly arrested.
and Alexandra Bastedo
, and remains a popular Christmas pantomime
villain. He directed and starred in a pantomime of Peter Pan
at the Alban Arena
of St. Albans during Christmas 2005, which was a sell-out and received excellent reviews. After Grantham left Eastenders in 2005, he spoke out publicly against the show, criticising its over-the-top, far-fetched storylines, saying 'there was a murder every week... that's not real life'
In January 2005 a newspaper report claimed that Grantham was in the process of writing his autobiography
, which he denied. However in June 2006 he confirmed he was in fact working on the book, titled Life And Other Times, for which he had been offered a "substantial sum" by Timewell Publishing. The book went on sale in bookshops across the UK on 18 October 2006.
In October 2006 it was announced that, in his first television role since leaving EastEnders, he would appear in the long-running ITV1
police drama series The Bill
, playing the role of Jimmy Collins on the run from prison. The episode aired on 8 February 2007. This was Leslie's second appearance in The Bill as he previously appeared in a few episodes in 1998 also coincidentally playing a character named Jimmy.
In February 2007, he began a tour of the UK with the Donald Churchill play The Decorator. In April 2007 it was announced that he would play Private Walker in a stage production of Dad's Army
, leading the Daily Mail
to comment that "At least there'll be one member of the cast who has actually shot a German" - in reference to Grantham's killing of the German taxi driver some 40 years earlier.
He contributed to EastEnders Revealed: Nick Cotton in December 2008, where he talked about his character's return and exits over the years, as well as those of on-screen daughter Sharon Watts/Rickman. He made a comment saying Who knows, maybe I can come back again?
In June 2009, Grantham was announced to play Abanazar in Aladdin at the White Rock Theatre
in Hastings
for the 2009 pantomime
season.
In February 2010 Grantham appeared in EastEnders: The Aftermath on BBC Three to mark the live episode of the show and its 25th Birthday. He was interviewed by Kirsten O'Brien
from behind the bar of The Queen Victoria
Public House
which his character had once owned. Grantham was cast for the lead role in the UK thriller flick DeadTime.
From the 28th November to the 11th December 2010, Grantham appeared as Ebenezer Scrooge in the Lincoln Theatre Royals performance of A Christmas Carol. He portrayed the main character John in the Bulgaria
n TV-series
The English Neighbour, based on the novel of the same name.
, but was virtually unknown to the British public when he made his first appearance as Den Watts
on 19 February 1985. Four days later, however, the Daily Mirror revealed that Grantham had spent a decade behind bars for killing a German taxi driver. He had warned BBC
bosses about his criminal past when agreeing to join the new series in late 1984, but they had vowed to stand by him even after the media went public with Grantham's past. Grantham had also volunteered to quit the show if his colleagues were unhappy with him, but they backed him up and he remained with the show for the next four years.
Grantham's role as Den Watts had earned him iconic status among television fans by the time of his first departure at the beginning of 1989, and he built on this success by appearing in other high-profile television roles during the 1990s, though none of these attracted the media attention or public popularity that he had enjoyed as "Dirty Den".
The character of Dirty Den was still an icon in the eyes of many viewers by the time of his "return from the dead" in 2003, and Grantham was by now one of the most recognisable actors on British television. The decision to bring back a supposedly dead character was controversial, but it boosted EastEnders viewing figures for a while, and the character of Den was at the centre of many notable storylines for several months afterwards though much of 2004 and 2005 saw Eastenders ratings at their lowest in the show's history and their storylines at their poorest which proved that the character wasn't quite the hit the bosses had hoped for.
The internet sex scandal in May 2004 brought great public shame on Grantham, particularly in the tabloid press. There were constant calls for him to be sacked, but he returned after a two-month suspension without pay. On 5 November 2004 it was confirmed that Grantham would be leaving the series, and that the character would once again be killed off – but this time there would be no comebacks and the "coffin lid would be nailed shut".http://menmedia.co.uk/tv_and_showbiz/s/136007_dirty_den_set_for_boot
Den was finally killed off in February 2005, and it was not until the autumn of the following year that he silenced the speculators who were still claiming that he had been sacked as punishment for the webcam incident, by confirming that his return to EastEnders was only ever going to be for 18 months, to tie in with the show's 20th anniversary. Den was referenced on the revived series of Doctor Who
in 2006. In the episode "Army of Ghosts
" the Doctor and others watch a piece of an episode of EastEnders wherein the ghost of Den Watts is supposedly returning to the pub. It is promptly told to leave before the channel is changed.
He was also referenced in Mock The Week
by Andy Parsons
during the Unlikely lines to hear in a T.V Show round of scenes we'd like to see, portraying Grantham as the host of Channel 4
's WankWeek which was fictionalized by Parsons on the spot, at that same moment.
During the 2007 Christmas holiday season, Grantham appeared in the pantomime
Dick Whittington, as 'Dirty Rat'.
Following the 2004 internet scandal of her ex Eastender co-star and on screen husband Leslie Grantham, Anita Dobson publicly spoke out about the case saying he was a 'silly boy' for getting involved in such a case, and how it was sad he'd lost so much as a result of it, saying he had a very good position in Eastenders for a man of his age which was at a time in an actors life when good roles were so hard to come by.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts
Den Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
in the 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...
. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal in 2004.
Early life
Grantham was born in CamberwellCamberwell
Camberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the son of Adelaide (nee Flinders) and Walter William Grantham (1915–1998), and enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers regiment of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in 1962, at the age of 15. On 3 December 1966 he attempted to rob a German taxi driver, Felix Reese. A struggle between Grantham and the driver followed, and Reese died from a gunshot wound to the head. In his statement to the police following his arrest, he claimed that he did not know the gun was loaded and it had gone off during a struggle with the taxi driver. He was subsequently convicted of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, a surprise verdict after being advised by his lawyer that a manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
verdict would probably be returned.
Grantham was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
at his trial in 1967. Although he had committed the killing in Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
, Germany, he served the entirety of his imprisonment in various British prisons. This was because soldiers and officers convicted of any criminal offence that warrants a sentence of over two years are automatically transferred to HM Prison Service, since they are also automatically dishonourably discharged. Grantham was released in 1977, having served 10 years. While he was in Leyhill Prison
Leyhill Prison
HM Prison Leyhill is a Category D men's prison, located in the parish of Tortworth in Gloucestershire, England. Leyhill Prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
, he acted in several plays for inmates and members of the public, and edited the prison newspaper. He was encouraged to get more involved in acting professionally by disgraced politician T. Dan Smith
T. Dan Smith
Thomas Daniel Smith was a British politician who was Leader of Newcastle upon Tyne City Council from 1960 to 1965. He was a prominent figure in the Labour Party in the north east of England, such that he was nicknamed 'Mr Newcastle'...
, who had also been an inmate at Leyhill. He also met actress Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
during her visit to Leyhill in the mid 1970s; she had also encouraged him to take up acting.
Early work
On release from prison Leslie decided to pursue an acting career and trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic ArtWebber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a...
. He became good friends with the actress Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson
Louise Jameson is an English actress, best known for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Jameson has also appeared on Emmerdale , The Omega Factor Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951 in Wanstead, London) is an English actress, best known...
, and made his first television appearance as Kiston in a 1984 episode of Doctor Who - Resurrection of the Daleks
Resurrection of the Daleks
Resurrection of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts between 8 February and 15 February 1984...
. He then appeared as a Signals Sergeant in episode 12 of the mini TV series The Jewel in the Crown. He also wrote a play entitled A Reason To Live, which won the Gloucester Drama Festival award for best original play. In 1985, he made a brief appearance in the film Morons from Outer Space
Morons from Outer Space
Morons from Outer Space is a 1985 comedy/science-fiction film directed by Mike Hodges.-Plot:The story begins on a small spaceship docking with a refueling station. On board are a group of four aliens, Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian...
, but by the time this film was released, Grantham had found fame in quite a different environment.
EastEnders first stint
In 1984, he auditioned with the BBCBBC
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...
for a part in its new 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...
, which was due to go on air in February 1985. He'd been encouraged by director Matthew Robinson, who had directed his Doctor Who serial the previous year and was to become a key member of the 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...
production team. Grantham had auditioned for the role of market trader Pete Beale
Pete Beale
Peter "Pete" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Peter Dean. He made his first appearance in the programme's first episode, on 19 February 1985. The character was created by Tony Holland, one of the creators of EasEnders; he was based on a member of...
, but he got the part of Dennis Watts. The character, landlord of the Queen Victoria public house, quickly became a national favourite and gained the nickname Dirty Den mostly because of the way he treated his wife Angie, played by Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson is an English television actress and singer. She gained her highest profile while playing Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
, and at the age of 39 he fathered a child with 16-year-old Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler
Michelle Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actress Susan Tully.Although she was one of the brighter people in Walford, that didn't stop Michelle making some huge mistakes during her time in Albert Square...
.
On Christmas Day 1986, Grantham's character served his on-screen wife with divorce papers, with the famous line - "Happy Christmas Ange" and the episode was watched by a record 30 million viewers - over half the British population. In 1988 the character Den Watts sold his pub to Frank Butcher
Frank Butcher
Francis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
and gradually drifted out of key storylines until finally departing in February 1989. Den had got involved with The Firm
The Firm (EastEnders)
The Firm is a fictional gangland organisation in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-1980s era:The Firm, aka "Walford Investments", was first introduced to the show in 1988, and was represented by the sharp-suited Gregory Mantel , the lackeys Brad Williams and Joanne Francis , and the elusive boss Mr...
and his only option was to flee the square. Viewers watched a mysterious gunman shoot at Den with a gun hidden in a bunch of daffodils, before hearing a splash. A shot depicting Den's death was cut from the final scene, as the show's producers hoped that Grantham might one day be persuaded to return to the role. The following year, a body believed to be Den's was found in the canal, although again, not shown on screen. In the early 90s there was a reference to the possibility that Den was still alive, when daughter Sharon found his jewellery for sale in a stall.
Other work
From 1989 to 1990 he played Danny Kane in the crime television series The Paradise ClubThe Paradise Club
The Paradise Club is a BBC television drama starring Don Henderson and Leslie Grantham as Frank & Danny Kane. Two series were produced and were broadcast between 1989 and 1990....
alongside Don Henderson
Don Henderson
Don Henderson was an English actor whose film and TV work covered many years but is best remembered for his role as the fictional detective George Bulman...
. He went on to appear in many more television series such as Cluedo
Cluedo (game show)
Cluedo was a UK television game show based on the board game of the same name. Each week, a reenactment of the murder at the stately home Arlington Grange of a visiting guest was played and, through a combination of interrogating the suspects and deduction, celebrity guests had to discover who...
as Colonel Mustard, The Detectives
The Detectives
The Detectives is a British comedy television series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. It was a spoof of police dramas, which were numerous in the 1990s, and it was aired on BBC One...
(1993) and 99-1 (1993-4). In 1994 he narrated Volume One of Frank Harris
Frank Harris
Frank Harris was a Irish-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day...
's erotic classic My Life and Loves
My Life and Loves
My Life and Loves is the autobiography of the Ireland-born, naturalized-American writer and editor Frank Harris . As published privately by Harris between 1922 and 1927, and by Jack Kahane's Obelisk Press in 1931, the work consisted of four volumes, illustrated with many drawings and photographs of...
.
In 1997 he produced and starred in the sci-fi mini-series The Uninvited.
He then became best known as the co-host of the game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
Fort Boyard
Fort Boyard (TV series)
For the fortress see Fort Boyard Fort Boyard is a French game show created by Jacques Antoine that was first broadcast in 1990 and is popular to this day...
alongside Melinda Messenger
Melinda Messenger
Melinda Jayne Messenger is an English ex-glamour model, Page 3 Girl and a former presenter on the magazine programme Live from Studio Five. She is currently co-broadcaster of the reality show Cowboy Builders.-Biography:...
which he presented from 1998 to 2001. He also reunited with his EastEnders co-star Anita Dobson in a one-off television film titled The Stretch which aired on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in 2000 and in a 2004 British gangster film titled Charlie.
Return to EastEnders
In September 2003, 14 years since his character was supposedly killed off Leslie Grantham returned to EastEnders as his 'Den Watts' character (who had last appeared in 1989) arrived at the nightclub now owned by his adoptive daughter Sharon.The return of the iconic character saw Grantham pick up the largest paycheque in British soap with a reported £500,000 a year contract.It had been revealed he survived the shooting and fled to Spain, with the help of former mistress Jan Hammond, while the body found a year later in the Canal was wrongly identified. Over 17 million people watched one of the most anticipated TV events of the year on Monday 29 September as Den spoke the famous words, "Hello, princess".
There had been much speculation in the media after Den's departure as to whether the character really was dead. BBC bosses said that Den's return had been on the agenda almost every year since the character's departure in 1989, and the first offer for him to return had been made as long ago as 1991. But Grantham had turned down every offer to return until the one made to him in early 2003, feeling that his character did not have adequate links to the show for a comeback to be anything more than a publicity stunt - particularly when Den's daughter Sharon was away from the show from 1995 to 2001, which left Den without any family in the cast. By 2003, however, his daughter Vicki had rejoined the cast and a previously unknown son called Dennis Rickman
Dennis Rickman
Dennis Rickman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nigel Harman. He entered the show on 14 April 2003 and made his last appearance on 30 December 2005, when he was fatally stabbed as the midnight fireworks began. He is part of the Watts family, though his...
(played by Nigel Harman
Nigel Harman
Nigel Derek Harman is an English actor, most famous for his role as Dennis Rickman in the UK soap opera EastEnders. He has worked extensively in theatre, with the stage being described as his "first love"...
) was also in the series - the product of an affair between Den and a young woman called Paula Rickman, 30 years earlier.
Den's former on-screen wife Angie had left the show in 1988, and actress Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson
Anita Dobson is an English television actress and singer. She gained her highest profile while playing Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
was made several offers to return to the show, but turned each one down and felt that the character would be ruined if she made a comeback. BBC bosses finally gave up on having Angie back in the show and the character died off-screen in 2002.
In December 2004, Dirty Den arranged a scam to get back the Queen Vic from Sam Mitchell
Sam Mitchell (EastEnders)
Samantha Margaret Priscilla "Sam" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. The third member of the Mitchell family to be introduced, Sam entered as a 15-year-old school girl in July 1990, played by Danniella Westbrook. Westbrook quit in 1993, but was reintroduced...
; 16 years after he had sold it to Frank Butcher
Frank Butcher
Francis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
.
Online sex scandal
In May 2004 a Sunday newspaper printed photographs of Grantham exposing himself and masturbatingMasturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
whilst sucking his finger in a sexually-suggestive manner via a webcam
Webcam
A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...
from his dressing room to an undercover reporter named "Amanda". Amanda logged onto MSN Messenger, calling herself "Halo Polisher" and was soon chatting to Grantham who called himself kwanertoo - explaining it was a play on the word wanker
Wanker
Wanker is a pejorative term of English origin, common in Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth countries, including Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It initially referred to an onanist but has since become a general insult. It is synonymous with tosser.-Meaning:The term wanker...
.
He also allegedly dressed as Captain Hook
Captain Hook
Captain James Hook is the main antagonist of J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and its various adaptations. The character is a villainous pirate captain of the Jolly Roger brig, and lord of the pirate village/harbour in Neverland, where he is widely feared. Most...
whilst pleasuring himself, shared his sexual fantasies about animals, insulted several cast members of EastEnders (including Shane Richie
Shane Richie
Shane Richie is an English actor, comedian, singer and media personality, known for his portrayal of the character Alfie Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.-Early life and career beginnings:...
, Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard
Wendy Richard, MBE was an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders...
, Kim Medcalf
Kim Medcalf
Kim Louise Medcalf is an English actress and occasional singer.She has made occasional appearances as a singer and is best known for playing the character Sam Mitchell in the long running BBC Soap Opera EastEnders from 2002 to 2005....
and Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace
Jessie Wallace is an English actress best known for her portrayal as Kat Moon in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early life:...
) and made comments regarding the poor quality of the scripts. Grantham released a statement which read, "I am wholeheartedly ashamed of my behaviour and feel that I have let down my colleagues, as well as my friends and family." He also added, "In some small recompense I intend to make a donation to charity as a mark of my apology." He maintained in later interviews that he 'was set up'.
He had apparently described co-star Shane Richie
Shane Richie
Shane Richie is an English actor, comedian, singer and media personality, known for his portrayal of the character Alfie Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.-Early life and career beginnings:...
(who played Alfie Moon
Alfie Moon
Alfred William "Alfie" Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Shane Richie. He made his first appearance on 21 November 2002, and left on 25 December 2005...
) as "self-infatuated", but Richie subsequently stated that Grantham had been forgiven by the cast and they were happy to joke with him about it.
Departure from EastEnders
In November 2004, it was confirmed that Grantham would be leaving EastEnders in the New Year. Bosses stated that the character would be killed off, but this time "the coffin lid would be nailed shut".On 18 February 2005, 16.2 million viewers tuned in to view his character's second demise, this time at the hands of new wife Chrissie, who hit him over the head with a dog-shaped iron doorstop after he attacked her during an argument. Grantham's departure from the soap was reportedly the result of adverse newspaper publicity generated by the actor's Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
sex scandal months earlier for which he had initially received a suspension from the programme, although he has stated that he did not want to renew his contract.
In his autobiography, which was released in October 2006, Grantham sought to put an end to the rumours that he was dismissed from EastEnders by asserting that his return to EastEnders was only ever going to be for 18 months, in order for his second demise to coincide with the show's 20th anniversary. In 2008 he told Sky's "Top 50 Showbiz Comebacks" "The intention for me to go back was only ever to kill the character off."
Six months after Den's last appearance, he returned again, this time as a corpse. Sam Mitchell was arrested after being caught digging up a body in the basement of the Queen Vic. The body was quickly identified as Den's, and Sam was charged with his murder. In October 2005, Sam's brothers Phil and Grant returned to Walford and managed to put her in the clear by obtaining a tape-recorded confession by the real killer, Chrissie, who was promptly arrested.
Life after EastEnders: 2005–present
Grantham has since appeared in two UK tours of Beyond Reasonable Doubt, a stage adaptation of a Jeffrey Archer play, alongside Simon WardSimon Ward
Simon Ward is an English stage and film actor.-Early life:Simon Ward was born in Beckenham, Kent, near London, the son of a car dealer. From an early age he wanted to be an actor. He was educated at Alleyn's School, London, the home of the National Youth Theatre, which he joined at age 13 and...
and Alexandra Bastedo
Alexandra Bastedo
Alexandra Bastedo is a British actress, best-known for her role as secret agent Sharron Macready in the 1968 British espionage/science fiction adventure series The Champions...
, and remains a popular Christmas pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
villain. He directed and starred in a pantomime of Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
at the Alban Arena
Alban Arena
Alban Arena is a theatre and music venue in the historic centre of St Albans, UK.This place is the centre of culture in St Albans from the 1970s until today...
of St. Albans during Christmas 2005, which was a sell-out and received excellent reviews. After Grantham left Eastenders in 2005, he spoke out publicly against the show, criticising its over-the-top, far-fetched storylines, saying 'there was a murder every week... that's not real life'
In January 2005 a newspaper report claimed that Grantham was in the process of writing his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, which he denied. However in June 2006 he confirmed he was in fact working on the book, titled Life And Other Times, for which he had been offered a "substantial sum" by Timewell Publishing. The book went on sale in bookshops across the UK on 18 October 2006.
In October 2006 it was announced that, in his first television role since leaving EastEnders, he would appear in the long-running ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
police drama series The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, playing the role of Jimmy Collins on the run from prison. The episode aired on 8 February 2007. This was Leslie's second appearance in The Bill as he previously appeared in a few episodes in 1998 also coincidentally playing a character named Jimmy.
In February 2007, he began a tour of the UK with the Donald Churchill play The Decorator. In April 2007 it was announced that he would play Private Walker in a stage production of Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
, leading the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
to comment that "At least there'll be one member of the cast who has actually shot a German" - in reference to Grantham's killing of the German taxi driver some 40 years earlier.
He contributed to EastEnders Revealed: Nick Cotton in December 2008, where he talked about his character's return and exits over the years, as well as those of on-screen daughter Sharon Watts/Rickman. He made a comment saying Who knows, maybe I can come back again?
In June 2009, Grantham was announced to play Abanazar in Aladdin at the White Rock Theatre
White Rock Theatre
White Rock Theatre is a medium-scale receiving house venue owned by Hastings Borough Council situated on the seafront of Hastings, East Sussex, on the south coast of England...
in Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
for the 2009 pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
season.
In February 2010 Grantham appeared in EastEnders: The Aftermath on BBC Three to mark the live episode of the show and its 25th Birthday. He was interviewed by Kirsten O'Brien
Kirsten O'Brien
Kirsten O'Brien is an English television presenter and stand-up comic.She is known for presenting SMart, and presented Smile and Totally Doctor Who alongside Barney Harwood on CBBC....
from behind the bar of The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria is a fictional Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.-Appearance and development:...
Public House
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
which his character had once owned. Grantham was cast for the lead role in the UK thriller flick DeadTime.
From the 28th November to the 11th December 2010, Grantham appeared as Ebenezer Scrooge in the Lincoln Theatre Royals performance of A Christmas Carol. He portrayed the main character John in the Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n TV-series
Series
series may refer to anything of a serial form:-Mathematics and science:* Series , a taxonomic rank between genus and species* Series , the sum of a sequence of terms* Series circuits, a kind of electrical network...
The English Neighbour, based on the novel of the same name.
Popularity
He had made a handful of bit-part roles on other television programmes prior to joining EastEnders, most notably Doctor WhoDoctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, but was virtually unknown to the British public when he made his first appearance as Den Watts
Den Watts
Dennis Alan "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den"....
on 19 February 1985. Four days later, however, the Daily Mirror revealed that Grantham had spent a decade behind bars for killing a German taxi driver. He had warned 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...
bosses about his criminal past when agreeing to join the new series in late 1984, but they had vowed to stand by him even after the media went public with Grantham's past. Grantham had also volunteered to quit the show if his colleagues were unhappy with him, but they backed him up and he remained with the show for the next four years.
Grantham's role as Den Watts had earned him iconic status among television fans by the time of his first departure at the beginning of 1989, and he built on this success by appearing in other high-profile television roles during the 1990s, though none of these attracted the media attention or public popularity that he had enjoyed as "Dirty Den".
The character of Dirty Den was still an icon in the eyes of many viewers by the time of his "return from the dead" in 2003, and Grantham was by now one of the most recognisable actors on British television. The decision to bring back a supposedly dead character was controversial, but it boosted EastEnders viewing figures for a while, and the character of Den was at the centre of many notable storylines for several months afterwards though much of 2004 and 2005 saw Eastenders ratings at their lowest in the show's history and their storylines at their poorest which proved that the character wasn't quite the hit the bosses had hoped for.
The internet sex scandal in May 2004 brought great public shame on Grantham, particularly in the tabloid press. There were constant calls for him to be sacked, but he returned after a two-month suspension without pay. On 5 November 2004 it was confirmed that Grantham would be leaving the series, and that the character would once again be killed off – but this time there would be no comebacks and the "coffin lid would be nailed shut".http://menmedia.co.uk/tv_and_showbiz/s/136007_dirty_den_set_for_boot
Den was finally killed off in February 2005, and it was not until the autumn of the following year that he silenced the speculators who were still claiming that he had been sacked as punishment for the webcam incident, by confirming that his return to EastEnders was only ever going to be for 18 months, to tie in with the show's 20th anniversary. Den was referenced on the revived series of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
in 2006. In the episode "Army of Ghosts
Army of Ghosts
"Army of Ghosts" is the twelfth and penultimate episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who which was first broadcast on 1 July 2006...
" the Doctor and others watch a piece of an episode of EastEnders wherein the ghost of Den Watts is supposedly returning to the pub. It is promptly told to leave before the channel is changed.
He was also referenced in Mock The Week
Mock the Week
Mock the Week is a British topical celebrity panel game hosted by Dara Ó Briain that launched in 2005. The game is influenced by improvised topical stand-up comedy, with several rounds requiring players to deliver answers on unexpected subjects on the spur of the moment.It is made by independent...
by Andy Parsons
Andy Parsons
Andy Parsons is an English comedian and writer, who regularly appears on Mock the Week. With comedy partner Henry Naylor, he has written and presented nine seasons of Parsons and Naylor’s Pull-Out Sections for BBC Radio 2.-Early life:...
during the Unlikely lines to hear in a T.V Show round of scenes we'd like to see, portraying Grantham as the host of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's WankWeek which was fictionalized by Parsons on the spot, at that same moment.
During the 2007 Christmas holiday season, Grantham appeared in the pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
Dick Whittington, as 'Dirty Rat'.
Following the 2004 internet scandal of her ex Eastender co-star and on screen husband Leslie Grantham, Anita Dobson publicly spoke out about the case saying he was a 'silly boy' for getting involved in such a case, and how it was sad he'd lost so much as a result of it, saying he had a very good position in Eastenders for a man of his age which was at a time in an actors life when good roles were so hard to come by.
Selected filmography
- The English Neighbour (2011) .... John
- The BillThe BillThe Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
(2007) .... Jimmy Collins (1 episode) - Charlie (2004) .... Richard Waldeck
- Heartbeat (2002) ..... George East (1 episode)
- The Stretch (2000) ..... Terry Greene
- The BillThe BillThe Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
(1998)..... Jimmy Smith (4 episodes) - Fort BoyardFort BoyardFort Boyard is a fort located between the Île-d'Aix and the Île d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits, on the west coast of France. Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began.-Layout:Fort...
(1998–2001)..... Boyard - The Uninvited (1997)..... Philip Gates
- WycliffeWycliffe-People:*Wycliffe Grousbeck, CEO, Governor, and co-owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team*Wycliffe Bubba Morton , American Major League Baseball player*Wycliffe Juma Oluoch , Kenyan footballer*Wycliffe Oparanya, Kenyan politician...
feature-length episode: Dance of the Scorpions (1997) ..... Patrick Durno - 99-1 Series 1 & 2 (1994–95) ..... Mick Raynor
- The DetectivesThe DetectivesThe Detectives is a British comedy television series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. It was a spoof of police dramas, which were numerous in the 1990s, and it was aired on BBC One...
(1993) ..... Danny Kane (1 episode) - CluedoCluedo (game show)Cluedo was a UK television game show based on the board game of the same name. Each week, a reenactment of the murder at the stately home Arlington Grange of a visiting guest was played and, through a combination of interrogating the suspects and deduction, celebrity guests had to discover who...
(1993) .... Colonel Mustard (6 episodes) - Woof!Woof!Woof! is a Children's ITV television series produced by Central Independent Television about the adventures of a boy who turns into a dog. It was based on the book by Allan Ahlberg. It was directed by David Cobham. It was written by Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss.-History:The show was first...
(1992) .... Mr Flint (1 episode) - The Paradise ClubThe Paradise ClubThe Paradise Club is a BBC television drama starring Don Henderson and Leslie Grantham as Frank & Danny Kane. Two series were produced and were broadcast between 1989 and 1990....
(1989–1990) .... Danny Kane - Alas Smith & Jones (1986) .... (1 episode)
- EastEndersEastEndersEastEnders 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...
(1985–89, 2003–05)..... "Dirty" Den Watts - Morons from Outer SpaceMorons from Outer SpaceMorons from Outer Space is a 1985 comedy/science-fiction film directed by Mike Hodges.-Plot:The story begins on a small spaceship docking with a refueling station. On board are a group of four aliens, Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian...
(1985) .... Motorway Policeman - Dramarama (1984) .... Mo's dad (1 episode)
- The Jewel in the Crown (1984) .... Signals Sergeant
- Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
: Resurrection of the DaleksResurrection of the DaleksResurrection of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts between 8 February and 15 February 1984...
(1984) .... Kiston