EastEnders star Leslie Grantham, who played the iconic Dirty Den in the BBC soap, is reportedly fighting for his life in hospital. According to The Sun, the 71-year-old has spent the last few years in Bulgaria, but has since returned to the UK where his condition is being monitored in hospital. "Leslie is being looked after. Those who are close to him are hugely worried and are praying for his well-being," a source told the publication on Monday. HELLO! has contacted a representative for the star for comment.
© Photo: Getty ImagesLeslie Grantham starred in EastEnders as Dirty Den
Leslie's character in the BBC soap EastEnders, Den Watts, made headlines over the years. One storyline helped the BBC soap pull in its biggest-ever audience, when more than 30 million viewers tuned in to see him hand over divorce papers to wife Angie on Christmas Day in 1986. Even now the episode is the fourth most watched show in British TV history, beaten by the 1966 World Cup final - which is still has the highest audience figures 32.30 million viewers. The actor first played Den from 1985 to 1989, he was then brought back from the dead over a decade later and was reunited with his on-screen daughter Sharon.
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Leslie has also appeared in movie and theatre productions, but he'll always be best-remembered as one of Walford's iconic bad-boys. He left the UK after splitting with his wife of 31 years, Jane, in 2013. The couple share three grown-up children - Spike, Jake and Danny. The soap star previously revealed that he would love a role in ITV's Coronation Street but claimed that soap fans might find it hard to see him play another character on a soap. He told Sunday People in 2015: "It's difficult to get in now if you are well-known in another soap. I know Michelle Collins went into Corrie but I'll always be known as Dirty Den."
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