Den Watts

"Dirty" Den Watts was a character in the British soap opera EastEnders played by actor Leslie Grantham.

Den was married to Angie (played by Anita Dobson) and together they managed the Albert Square pub, the Queen Victoria. Den was notorious for his extramarital affairs and shady dealings, which earned him his nickname. His conquests included his adopted daughter Sharon's best friend Michelle Fowler (then sixteen, who bore him a daughter, Vicki), Jan Hammond and Paula Rickman, who bore him a son, Dennis, known as Desperate Den.

In one of EastEnders' most famous storylines, Den tried to leave his wife Angie for his mistress Jan. However, in a special two-hander episode that featured only Den and Angie (and a window cleaner), Angie managed to dissuade Den from leaving him by announcing that she had only six months to live, a lie that completely took Den in. In an effort to cheer up his 'dying' wife, Den took Angie to Venice, only to learn on the Orient Express that Angie was faking her illness. Den then served divorce papers on Angie on Christmas Day 1986, which was seen by an audience of 30.15 million viewers in the U.K..

Den was shot in 1989 by a hitman working for "the firm" and presumed dead. Notoriously, the shooting was accomplished with a gun concealed in a bunch of daffodils. Although Den was not seen shot on screen, viewers heard him fall into the canal. His jacket was subsequently retrieved from the canal, Sharon found his distinctive signet ring with a D initial for sale at the local market and she even identified a body as his. Nevertheless, on 29 September 2003 it was revealed that the death was faked and he returned to Albert Square. Although the shooting did not kill him, it still caused his death indirectly as it forced him to go into exile, where he met Chrissie, who ended up murdering him.

This followed plotlines explaining that "the firm" was that of Jack Dalton, played by Hywel Bennett. Dalton revealed to former gangster Dennis, though not yet to viewers, as his words were drowned by a passing train, that Den was alive and living in Spain. Dennis then murdered Dalton, allowing Den to return, followed by his estranged wife Chrissie, whom he had married during his years of lonely philandering exile in Spain.

It was revealed he owed the local video shop £9,000 because in 1988 he rented out Porky's II and never returned it, even though he was supposedly dead. The hapless Billy Mitchell's attempt to recoup this video rental fine was met with sneering derision and a curt dismissal from Den's presence.

The nightclub "Angie's Den" (formerly E20, after Walford's fictional postcode) was named after the Watts by their daughter Sharon.

Final demise

February 18 2005 saw the 20th anniversary of EastEnders and the second, presumably final death of Dirty Den. The 'Three Witches'; Chrissie Watts, Sam Hunter and Zoe Slater tricked Den into revealing the truth about destroying Dennis and Sharon's relationship to Sharon herself as she hid in the shadows. His rejection by his fleeing daughter, the only person he had ever truly loved, drove Den to repeatedly smash Chrissie's face into a fruit machine. Zoe defended Chrissie by hitting him over the head with an iron dog doorstop belonging aptly enough to his oldest surviving enemy Pauline Fowler. In a shock twist Den cheated death yet again and lunged for Chrissie's throat but she dispatched him with a second brutal blow from the doorstop. She allowed Zoe to think she had murdered Den but Sam had witnessed Chrissie finishing him off from the shadows.

Den's final words, "You'll never get me out the Vic!", proved appropriate as the Three Witches encased his corpse in concrete under the cellar of his beloved pub. So far his body has yet to be discovered but he continues to cast a shadow over the Square. As Sam pointed out to Chrissie, "He'll get his revenge. He always does. And when did being dead ever stop Den Watts before?" It remains to be seen whether Walford has seen the back of Dirty Den for good.

External link

• BBC Eastenders site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/eastenders/characters/character_content/character_den_w.shtml)