lesliegrantham

Den Watts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
EastEnders character
Den Watts
Portrayed by Leslie Grantham
Created by Tony Holland
Introduced by Julia Smith (1985)
Louise Berridge (2003)
Duration 1985–1989, 2003–2005
First appearance 19 February 1985
Last appearance 18 February 2005
Profile
Date of birth 11 July 1946
Date of death 18 February 2005
Status Deceased
Occupation Landlord
[show]Family
Wives Angie Shaw (1968-1987)
Chrissie Watts (1999-2005)
Father Dennis Watts
Sons Dennis Rickman
Daughters Vicki Fowler
Adoptive daughters Sharon Rickman
Grandsons Dennis Rickman Jr.

Dennis "Den" Watts was a fictional character in the popular 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 Vic. He perhaps is best known for his stormy love-hate relationship with his alcoholic first wife Angie. 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 30.1 million viewers, about half of the UK's population now. 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 - at the hands of his manipulative second wife Chrissie.

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

Background

Den Watts was one of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders, Tony Holland and Julia Smith. The character of Den was originally going to be named Jack[1] and he, his wife and adopted 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.[1] 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.[1] The Watts 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.[1]

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).[1]

[edit] Casting controversy
Den Watts, as he appeared in 1985.
Den Watts, as he appeared in 1985.

EastEnders' lead director Matthew Robinson recommended the actor Leslie Grantham for the part. Grantham had previously appeared on the London Fringe in a stage play Robinson had written. His only TV appearance at that point had been as Kiston, a small part in a 1984 Doctor Who serial Resurrection of the Daleks 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".[1] They 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..."

After 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 1967, and spent 10 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".[1]

The story found its way into the British press far quicker than was 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 Elstree Studios (where EastEnders is filmed) were swamped with journalists and photographers, and so began a "double-edged" relationship between EastEnders and the popular press.[1] 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.[1] Grantham became hounded by the press and the BBC was forced to put out a statement supporting him and their decision to employ a convicted murderer. In order to keep the press at bay, Grantham was smuggled out of the studios by the back route and decoy cars were used to lure the press away from his home, which all put an increasing strain on the actor. Eventually the furore quietened down, but it never went away entirely and nearly every article written about the actor during his first stint in the show, referenced his past. Press began to blur the characters in the show with the actors and it was at this point when Julia 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".[1]

[edit] Character development and impact

Despite the controversy surrounding Grantham, the Watts, with Anita Dobson as the newly appointed Angie, were the surprise hit characters of the show. Angie and Den were a live-wire couple whose on/off relationship made the Queen Vic pub exciting and unpredictable and the viewers tuned in 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 toppled rival soap Coronation Street from the top of the ratings chart.[2]

[edit] "Dirty Den"
Den and Michelle rendez-vous by the canal.
Den and Michelle rendez-vous by the canal.

Early on in the series, the character of Den became central to the programme and was the focus of a controversial storyline involving the teenage pregnancy of Michelle Fowler. Press interest in the show escalated to record levels as journalists continuously tried to predict who had fathered Michelle's baby. In true whodunnit fashion, the audience had been kept in the dark as to the real identity of the father and were given teasers implicating several residents on the Square. The audience finally discovered the culprit in episode 66 of the programme, October 1985. The episode was written by series co-creator/script editor Tony Holland and directed by co-creator/producer Julia Smith, and was considered to be a landmark episode in the show's history. Four possible suspects were seen leaving the Square in the early half of the episode: Tony Carpenter, Ali Osman, Andy O'Brien and Den Watts. As Michelle waited by their rendezvous point a car pulled up and finally the fluffy white legs of Roly the poodle bounded out of the car, and gave it all away: Den Watts was the man meeting Michelle and it was he who had fathered her baby. It was when Den was revealed as the father that his famous nickname "Dirty Den" was created by the British press. The rest of the episode consisted of just one long scene, where Den and Michelle discussed whether or not to keep the baby. Up to that time it was the longest scene ever done in a soap-opera, lasting fifteen minutes. For a series that in its first eight months of existence had established a reputation for being fast-moving and rapidly cut, this was a bold experiment.[3] It relied on just the one story and two actors to hold the audience for over half an episode. Tony Holland's handling of the awkward scene between a teenage girl and the father of her best-friend is deemed as one of the highlights of EastEnders first year.[3] The finishing touch was the use of an alternative end title music, a variation of the normal one which replaced the dramatic drum beats with a longer, gentler piano solo introduction.[3]

After this storyline the programme started to appear in newspaper cartoons as it moved more and more into the public mainstream. One such cartoon showed the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, telling her cabinet that the best way to alert the country to the dangers of AIDS was to give the disease to Den.[1]
Den meets up with his posh mistress, Jan Hammond, in Venice.
Den meets up with his posh mistress, Jan Hammond, in Venice.

[edit] Den and Angie mania

During 1986 the series became dominated by Den and Angie's storylines and the focus of the programme was very much concentrated on their combustible relationship. The emphasis began early in 1986 with the arrival of Den's mistress Jan Hammond. Jan had been a powerful off-screen presence for the first year, a menacing voice at the end of the telephone, which severely affected the mood of both Den and Angie and kept the audience on edge everytime the phone rang. Jan's physical arrival at the Vic in January 1986 was one of the show's dramatic highlights.[3] Her invasion of Angie's territory was a springboard to future emotional fireworks and a pre-cursor to Angie's further dependence on alcohol and her attempted suicide.

Den and Angie's traumatic two-hander episode in October 1986 was another risky experiment for EastEnders — A thirty minute episode with only two people in it had never been attempted in a soap before.[3] Holland and Smith feared that the episode would not hold up, however press and audience alike were in agreement that it did.[3] Once it was done, it set a precedent and the programme has featured two-handers ever since. The episode was structured like a "tennis match" between Angie and Den, with a non-speaking window-cleaner forever strolling innocently into the action. It began with Den trying to tell Angie that he wanted a divorce. Angie was shocked and for a moment defeated, but she then dropped her bombshell and told Den that she only had six months to live. At first Den didn't believe her, but eventually Angie's hysterical performance convinced him. He crumbled and promised to stay with her and only after he left did Angie smile in triumph, letting the audience in on her secret that it was all a big lie. Written by Jane Hollowood and directed by Antonia Bird, this episode is considered to be one of the finest episodes in EastEnders' catalogue.[3]

The Den/Angie/Jan triangle was to continue for many months. The climax was a trip to Venice when Angie — convinced that Den had finished with his mistress — was taken there for a second honeymoon, returning to London on the Orient Express. This gave the writers and producers an opportunity to open the show up from the confines of Albert Square. However the trip to Venice was fraught with problems and Dobson, Grantham and Jane How (Jan) were hounded by the press at all times. Their photographs appeared in British newspapers, thus ruining the shock surprise that Tony Holland had created, by including Den's mistress in the episode.Despite huge efforts from all involved the Venice episodes were only moderately successful, although the revelations discovered by Den in the episode set the scene for one of EastEnders most renowned episodes, which aired on Christmas day that year.[1] After over-hearing his wife confess that her illness was fabricated, Den filed for divorce. 30.1 million viewers tuned in on Christmas day in 1986, to witness Den handing Angie her divorce papers, giving the soap its highest ever episode rating, which has yet to be beaten by any other plotline from any other soap in the UK.[4]
30.1 million viewers watched Den serve Angie divorce papers (Christmas 1986).
30.1 million viewers watched Den serve Angie divorce papers (Christmas 1986).

This storyline saw the separation of Den and Angie. Holland and Smith had anticipated that Den and Angie would be popular, but they had not guessed how hysterical the reaction to them would be. It was decided that Den and Angie would have to be played down for a while so that other characters would have the opportunity to shine through.The next few years saw Den and Angie struggle to get by without each other and eventually they reunited as business partners.

[edit] Arrest and demise

However in 1988 Anita Dobson decided that she wanted to move on after three years playing Angie. She left in May 1988. Leslie Grantham had also decided that he wanted to move on, but Julia Smith didn't want the programme to suffer the double blow of losing both Den and Angie at the same time. The solution to the problem was one of the soap's most complex and creative exercises, that required intricate planning. The idea was to enable Den to stay as an on-screen presence for an extra year while keeping Grantham working for EastEnders for only a few months. Tony Holland and writer/editor Bill Lyons came up with a story to put Den in prison for a year, intending that material recorded in a block of intensive filming would then be included in the programme for the rest of the year. The programme didn't want to make Den into a criminal, however, so he had to be put in prison for doing something that could be justified to the viewing public — otherwise there would be no sympathy for him. The answer lay in a storyline that was running with another character — the rape of Kathy Beale. After simultaneously getting in way over his head with a criminal organisation (The Firm), Den torched The Dagmar in retaliation against Kathy's rapist and was then made to take the blame for the deed by the firm. After he refused, went on the run, and was nearly killed by the firm's heavies, Den turned himself into the police and was put on remand at Dickens Hill prison. For the next five months he was seen, in the company of a small group of new characters also confined in the prison, on a regular basis in EastEnders. This material was shot in less than a month at Dartmoor Prison, Devon. When these segments were written and recorded, they were done so entirely in isolation and in advance - the production team had no real idea of other material that would have to fit around it.

The character was eventually to bow out on 23 February 1989 in one of the programme's most famous episodes which attracted an estimated 20 million viewers. After escaping from custody Den returned to the famous canal (in Alperton) for one last rendezvous with Michelle. The episode ended with Den being shot by a member of the firm (who was carrying a gun concealed in a bunch of daffodils) and then falling into the canal. The scene where Den actually hit the water had to be taped at the BBC's Ealing Film Studios using a water tank, because the waters of the Grand Union Canal were deemed unsafe. When the episode was finished, however, Jonathan Powell, controller of BBC1, requested that the final shot be removed to allow for the possibility of Den returning at a later date. In protest, Tony Holland and Julia Smith had their names taken off the episode's credits. Den's exit ended up being the creators' final contribution to the show.
Controversial return

However, after 14 years presumed dead, executive-producer Louise Berridge made the highly controversial decision to reintroduce the character to the series and reunite him with his daughter Sharon, played by Letitia Dean. Grantham has alleged that the producers of EastEnders asked him to reprise the role many times since 1991, but he turned each offer down as he was unhappy with the returning storylines. Subsequent offers between 1995 and 2001 were also rejected because Den's screen family were no longer in the show and Grantham felt that a return at this time would have been little more than a publicity stunt. However, he accepted Berridge's offer to return in 2002 as he approved of the storyline and because Den had family ties within the cast - his adoptive daughter Sharon had returned after six years away, his other daughter Vicki was due to return, and Dennis Rickman - the son Den hadn't known existed - was also due to join.

The reintroduction of Den was part of a plan by scriptwriters to fight back against the continued success of ITV's long-running soap, Coronation Street. The character made his "dramatic return" in an episode that aired on 29 September 2003. On-screen, Den walked into Sharon's nightclub, Angie's Den, and greeted his stunned daughter with the words "Hello, princess." More than 16 million viewers watched his long-awaited homecoming, attracting 62% of the viewing public; it has been voted as the favourite TV soap comeback in an AOL online poll of over 23,000 viewers, taking over a third of the vote (37%).

Although the character's return was popular with many viewers, the British press branded the plot unrealistic and felt that it questioned the show's credibility. A severe press backlash followed after actor Leslie Grantham was outed in an internet sex scandal, which coincided with a swift decline in EastEnders ratings. Newly appointed executive-producer Kathleen Hutchison then made the decision to axe the character and he was killed off in a high-profile storyline, which saw his body buried in the cellar of The Queen Vic.

Grantham has denied that he was dismissed from the show as punishment for the internet sex scandal.He has claimed in his autobiography that he only ever intended to return to the soap for 18 months so his character's second demise would tie in with the show's 20th anniversary.

Popularity

Despite the controversy surrounding Grantham, the character of Den remains one of the most popular and high-profile characters in EastEnders history and was voted the 75th greatest television character of all time in a Channel 4 poll. He has also been branded the villain "you most love to hate" and was voted the number one TV Bastard in a 2002 poll In addition, the moment that Den served Angie divorce papers has been voted the number one soap moment of all time in a 2004 poll.

Piczo