Who was Dirty Den on EastEnders? An EastEnders icon explained

The name ‘Dirty’ Den Watts is as synonymous with EastEnders as Phil and Grant Mitchell, Frank Butcher or Ian Beale. First appearing on the soap...
Joel Harley
By Joel Harley

The name ‘Dirty’ Den Watts is as synonymous with EastEnders as Phil and Grant Mitchell, Frank Butcher or Ian Beale. First appearing on the soap when it debuted in 1985, Den would be remembered as one of the soap’s most memorable villains – making history all over again when he returned from beyond the grave in 2003.

Here’s a brief history of the one and only Den Watts.

Who was Dirty Den?

First appearing on the soap when it debuted in 1985, Den was the original landlord of The Queen Vic, and husband to the just-as-iconic Angie. As of the soap’s beginning, Den and Angie had been Walford residents since the 1970s, together with their adopted daughter Sharon.

The press soon coined the nickname ‘Dirty’ Den due to the character’s constant philandering – specifically his affair with sixteen-year-old Michelle Fowler, who birthed his illegitimate daughter, Vicki.

Making Christmas history

Den and Angie made soap history with one of the soap’s biggest Christmas stories of all time – in which he served her divorce papers on Christmas Day, watched by a record-breaking audience of 30 million viewers.

Learning that Den had planned to leave her, Angie lied about contracting a terminal disease, telling Den that she only had six months left to live. After discovering the truth, Den enacted his revenge on Christmas 1986, serving her divorce papers and ordering her out of The Vic.

Death and resurrection

By 1990, Den had become involved in a criminal gang known as ‘The Firm.’ After getting on the wrong side of The Firm, Den planned to flee Walford, although he was caught before he could leave and shot dead.

However, Den had survived this encounter and, after faking his own death, fled to Spain. He returned to Walford in 2003, after being tracked down by daughter Vicki.

After wrestling back control of The Vic, he remained in Walford for just over a year, making a fresh set of enemies in Zoe Slater, Sam Mitchell and Chrissie Watts. And it was Chrissie who put him down for a second and final time, during a fateful run-in with the women in 2005.

Who played Dirty Den?

Actor Leslie Grantham played Den for both stints on the show. Grantham’s second tenure came to an abrupt end when the actor became involved in a scandal involving online pornography – after which the BBC made the decision to write him out of the show.

Grantham died in June 2018, aged 71.

Following his death, screen wife Anita Dobson described him as “a wonderful and special actor, witty and very talented. I shall remember him very fondly and with affection.”