FORMER EASTENDERS ACTOR Leslie Grantham has died aged 71.
Grantham was best known for his role as ‘Dirty Den’ on the BBC One soap.
The BBC announced the news this afternoon.
It was reported earlier this week that the actor had returned to the UK from Bulgaria, where he had taken on a role in a TV series called The English Neighbour.
However, he remains most known for his time on Eastenders between 1985 and 1989. He had a second stint from 2003 to 2005.
One of his biggest storylines saw him give his onscreen wife, Angie (played by Anita Dobson), divorce papers on Christmas Day 1986. More than 30 million people watched that episode, according to the Guardian.
In 2005, he was written out of Eastenders after a much-publicised online sex scandal. In May 2004, newspapers in the UK published pictures of him exposing himself on a webcam.
Before rising to fame as Dirty Den, Grantham had spent 10 years in prison in Germany after being convicted of murdering a taxi man. The Sun reported the story in the UK years after his release in 1977.
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