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".

Den was the original landlord of The Queen Victoria. He perhaps is best remembered for his stormy love-hate relationship with his alcoholic first wife Angie (Anita Dobson). After nearly 20 years of marriage, he finally handed divorce papers to her in the 1986 Christmas Day episode that was watched by a record-breaking 30.15 million viewers, more than half of the UK population at the time. He was also well known for his later involvement with the criminal gang known as The Firm that eventually led to an attempt on his life in 1989. For 14 years, it was believed that the Firm's attempt on his life had been successful. But he returned to Walford in September 2003. 17 months later, his character was killed off again, this time for good, at the hands of his manipulative second wife Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman).

His character was described by EastEnders Executive Producer, Louise Berridge, as being arguably one of the most iconic soap characters ever.