News Obituary Leslie Grantham

From Kiston to Dirty Den

In 1966, Leslie Grantham was convicted of murder after shooting and killing a German taxi driver (Felix Reese) during a botched robbery and spent 10 years inside for his crime. While he served his sentence he met and befriended Louise Jameson before she became known to us all as Doctor Who companion Leela. The pair became pen pals – a concept perhaps lost on those of today – it involved writing letters on paper, with a pen, rather than text messaging.

Louise encouraged Leslie to become an actor, so after he was released from prison in 1977, he studied the art of acting and made his first appearance in Doctor Who story Resurrection of the Daleks as Kiston for both episodes in 1984.

Obviously, despite other roles in television dramas, it was perhaps his role as landlord of the Queen Vic pub in Walford that put Leslie Grantham quite firmly on the map and where he became a household name as Dirty Den. Yet despite his bad boy image, he was still the best looking bloke in the whole of Walford – well he must have been, he got Michelle Fowler pregnant at 16 - although they do say Love is Blind.

And then, his character is taken out by a bunch of daffodils down by the canal!!! 

Obviously in later years we discover this not to be true, but for a good number of years we were left with an emptiness by Dirty Den and his shenanigans, and who can forget that Christmas episode when Angie was given the old heave ho!

I enjoyed watching his behaviour as bad boy Dirty Den Watts, which after his return second time around, found him eventually killed off (permanently) by new wife Chrissie, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman who lamped him with a dog shaped iron doorstop.

‘I did my duty to queen and country.’

Grantham had just completed filming The Krays: Dead Man Walking film before he died. He was only 71.