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". Den was the original landlord of The Queen Victoria public house from Albert Square who first appeared when the show debuted on 19 February 1985. From then onwards, the character had a turbulent marriage with his alcoholic first wife Angie (Anita Dobson).
In 1986, Den discovers that Angie lied to him about having six months to live and got revenge by giving her divorce papers on Christmas Day 1986, which was watched by over 30 million viewers. Den continued his close relationship with their adopted daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean). Den soon became involved in storylines that mostly contributed to the character's magnanimous and "bad boy" persona, such as Den impregnating 16-year-old Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully) – which resulted in a long-standing feud with Michelle's mother Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard); teaming up with Pete Beale (Peter Dean) to force their enemy Nick Cotton (John Altman) out of Walford for causing trouble around the square; romancing with his mistress Jan Hammond (Jane How); and getting revenge on business rival James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde) for raping Pete's wife Kathy (Gillian Taylforth). Grantham quit the series in 1988, and in February 1989, Den was apparently killed off after getting shot due to his involvement with The Firm.
Despite turning down several offers to return, Grantham reprised the role 14 years later in a highly publicised week in September 2003, where Sharon discovered that Den had survived his shooting and had fled to Spain afterwards. The development of Den's return to the show was contributed with the introductions of his and Michelle's daughter Vicki (Scarlett Alice Johnson) and his biological son Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), and later Den's second wife Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman). His second stint on the programme saw Den repeatedly clash with Dennis over his romantic feelings for Sharon, and he later has sex with Dennis' girlfriend Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan) and gets her to lie that she is pregnant. Additionally, Den establishes a rivalry with Sharon's ex-boyfriend Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) that ends with him framing the latter for armed robbery; forms a friendship with Dot Cotton (June Brown); has sex with Phil's ex-wife Kate Morton (Jill Halfpenny) and his sister Sam (Kim Medcalf) as revenge; and cons Sam into relinquishing her ownership of The Queen Vic back to him. Grantham left in 2004, and Den was ultimately killed off for good on 18 February 2005, during the show's 20th anniversary episode, when he was bludgeoned to death by Chrissie, which was watched by 14.34 million viewers.
Character creation Background Den Watts was one of the original 23 characters devised by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. The character of Den was originally going to be called Jack and he, his wife and adopted teenage daughter were to be the occupants of the soap's local pub, now famously known as The Queen Vic. Holland, who had worked as a barman in his youth, called upon his own personal experiences to invent the Watts family and the pub they lived in. Holland and Smith had always been critical of the way pubs had been portrayed on television feeling they lacked vitality and life, so they were determined that their pub and occupants were going to be more realistic. The Watts family were seen by Holland as integral to the show's success, partly because he had already guessed that the pub was going to be a monstrous battleground where emotions would run high on a regular basis, and also because the occupants would be providing the majority of the drama.
Den's original character outline as written by Smith and Holland appeared in an abridged form in their book, EastEnders: The Inside Story. In this passage, Den will be referred to as Jack, his wife as Pearl, his daughter as Tracey and his dog as Prince (known now as Angie, Sharon and Roly respectively).
"Jack and Pearl are not criminals. They're not angels either. Villains perhaps? Well, he certainly is. They've been married for fifteen years, and haven't had sex with each other for thirteen of them. The marriage is a front for the sake of the pub's image. The daughter, Tracey is adopted—maybe for the same reason. They have a dog too—Prince—an Alsatian...Even with a marriage on the rocks, Jack still likes the area. His mates are here, it's friendly and it's his territory. "Local lad makes good"...People look up to him. If you've dragged yourself up by the scruff of the neck and moved up a notch, you need a few people around you who didn't quite make it, or you might as well be invisible. He's had a mistress for five years...Unlike Pearl, she's a very up-market woman, a lady, real class. Jack's her bit of rough, and they're happy. They actually talk. With Pearl, you shout – or shut up...He's a smart dresser. Changes his shirt twice a day and his shoes sparkle. He runs a good pub. He's firm and fair with the staff (if you've got any problems—go to him, not her.) The cellars are well organised and spotless. His masculinity is the key to his character. It was called into question at an early stage in his marriage and he's defended it ever since. Some call him a ladies' man (because of his good looks) others – a man's man...He's a con man and has the gift of the gab. He can defend himself smartly in a brawl. (He's only ever thumped Pearly once.) You can accept Jack being a snob—because it's not malicious: it's done with a grin. Like Pearl, he's also trapped by is background...Jack and Pearl's relationship is pretty heated...The smooth public face (workers in pubs are always on stage); the trial reconciliations; the rows; the fights and the tears...Will Jack ever bring his mistress into the pub, which is Pearl's territory? Will Pearl accept too many free drinks from punters and lose control in public?...They were lovers. They are husband and wife. There was affection...love...if it came to it, could they give each other up? The private grins and winks to each other when they're working as a team—which usually means taking money. The love turning to hatred...Jack the lad and the artificial Pearl...They're an electric couple." (page 74).
Casting controversy EastEnders' lead director Matthew Robinson recommended the actor Leslie Grantham for the part. Grantham had previously appeared in London's fringe theatre in a stage play Robinson had written and had played a small part, Kiston, in the two-part Doctor Who serial Resurrection of the Daleks (1984), which had been directed by Robinson. Julia Smith remembered that she had taught Grantham at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and regarded him as a "mature student", although she had never seen him "in action". Smith and Holland needed the character of Den to have "panache, charisma and electricity". They were initially uncertain about casting Grantham, but they both felt that the actor had "something", which they went on to describe as a "tensed up internal emotion of some sort, that was being held in. There was something behind the eyes, too. Barely contained violence almost..."
Following a successful reading with the actress Jean Fennell (who was originally cast as Angie), he was offered the part. However, shortly afterwards Grantham contacted Smith and asked to speak to her urgently. He revealed that he had been found guilty of killing a German taxi driver while on army service in 1966 and spent ten years in prison. Although there were fears that if this story got out the resultant publicity would do enormous damage to the programme and the BBC, Smith decided not to withdraw Grantham from the role. In her opinion, he had paid the full penalty that society requires for a mistake committed in his past and it was a "Christian duty to forgive".
The story found its way into the British press much faster than expected. Three days after the transmission of episode one, EastEnders made the front page of a national newspaper for the first time with the headline "EASTENDERS STAR IS A KILLER." The security gates at the BBC Elstree Centre (where EastEnders is filmed) were swamped with journalists and photographers, and so began a "double-edged" relationship between EastEnders and the popular press. The devisers of the programme were quick to realise that whilst a newspaper's publicity may sometimes boost a soap's position in the ratings, it could equally help to tarnish it. In conjunction, soaps could help to sell newspapers, and from then on stories about EastEnders and the cast began to fill their pages. Grantham was hounded by the press and the BBC was forced to put out a statement supporting him and their decision to employ a convicted murderer. To keep the press at bay, Grantham was smuggled out of the studios by the rear entrance and decoy cars were used to lure the press away from his home, all of which put an increasing strain on him. Eventually the furore quietened down, but it never went away entirely and nearly every article written about Grantham during his first stint in the show referenced his past. The press began to blur the characters in the show with the actors and it was at this point that Smith, in an attempt to dispel confusion about reality and fiction, introduced the rule that no actor was ever to appear in public "in character".
Character development and impact Despite the controversy surrounding Grantham, the Wattses, with Anita Dobson as the newly appointed Angie, were the surprise hit characters of the show. Angie and Den were a livewire couple whose on/off relationship made the Queen Vic pub "exciting and unpredictable" and the viewers tuned in their millions to watch the destruction of their relationship on-screen. Den's clashes with Angie brought EastEnders to a peak of popularity and removed rival soap Coronation Street from the top of the ratings chart.
"Dirty Den"