Dirty Den returning to Eastenders

Dirty Den, one of the best-loved villains in soap history, is set to make a dramatic return to EastEnders after 14 years, the BBC confirmed.

Dirty Den, one of the best-loved villains in soap history, is set to make a dramatic return to EastEnders after 14 years, the BBC confirmed.

Actor Leslie Grantham, who played Dennis Watts in the BBC1 show from 1985 to 1989, is coming back to Albert Square after 12 months of negotiations, a BBC spokeswoman said.

Den’s exit from the show was left open, although many viewers assumed he was dead after a confrontation with a gunman beside a canal.

But soap fans never saw his body fall into the water after the “fatal” shots were fired from behind an innocent looking bunch of daffodils.

His return will require a degree of dramatic licence on the part of programme makers after a body was fished out of the canal a year after his disappearance and buried as Den.

The Sun reported that Grantham, 57, had signed a six-month deal and said rumours suggested that the storyline would reveal he faked his death to escape gangland villains.

Grantham is set to return to work next month, but will not appear on screen until September, The Sun added.

He sampled life back in Walford last year when he appeared by the bar of the Queen Vic in a special sketch during the Children in Need charity telethon.

He joined current cast members dressed as a zombie in a spoof of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.

Along with alcoholic wife Angie, Den was one of the most memorable landlords at the Queen Vic.

One of soap’s bad boys, he had a long-term mistress and also made 16-year-old Michelle Fowler pregnant.

In one of the best-remembered scenes in the soap, he served Angie with divorce papers on Christmas day, after she pretended to have a fatal illness.

But Den had a more successful relationship with adopted daughter Sharon, calling her his “princess”.

Den’s dodgy dealings finally caught up with him when he found himself at odds with local protection racket “The Firm”.

When he refused to take the blame for setting fire to the Dagmar wine bar, as revenge for the rape of his best friend’s wife Kathy Beale, the Firm turned nasty and decided to end his reign over the square.

Den’s daughter by Michelle, Vicki, recently made a return to the soap after leaving with her mother for a new life in America.

And Dennis Rickman, Den’s secret son, has also entered the show after being tracked down by half-sisters Sharon and Vicki.

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