Dickens Hill - Storyline Development

Storyline Development

Two of the most successful and popular characters in the history of EastEnders have been pub landlords Den and Angie Watts, played by Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson. They are original characters who both appear in the very first episode of EastEnders in February 1985, and were largely responsible for attracting the highest episode BARB rating for a UK soap opera, when 30.15 million viewers tuned in on Christmas Day 1986 to witness Den hand Angie divorce papers as a Christmas present. A quarter of a century later, the episode is still the fourth most highly viewed UK programme of all time, coming behind the 1966 World cup final, the funeral of Princess Diana (1997), and a 1969 Royal family documentary.

However, in 1987 actress Anita Dobson decided that she wanted to leave the serial. After over three years on-screen, the character departed in May 1988. Actor Leslie Grantham, who played Den, came to the decision soon afterwards that he too wanted to move on. He has commented, “I told them in November 1987 that I wanted to leave and Den had to die. It had to be final for both my sake and for the sake of the rest of the cast. After all, everything you seemed to read in the papers about EastEnders concerned 'Dirty Den'.”However, the executive producer of EastEnders, 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 producers and writers came up with an idea to enable Den to stay as an on-screen presence for an extra year, while keeping Grantham working on EastEnders for only a few more months. The story, which was conceptualised by scriptwriters Tony Holland and Bill Lyons, saw Den Watts imprisoned. The programme makers’ intention was to record the prison footage in a block of intensive filming, which would then be included in episodes of EastEnders for the rest of the year. Grantham has since said, "I agreed to a storyline about the jail sentence that would lead up to the end slowly, and allow new major stories to be developed. I’d always known that I didn’t want to play Den for twenty-five years. I didn’t want Den to end up another Ken Barlow, thanks very much.”

The programme makers did not want to turn Den into a criminal, however, so they decided that he had to be put in prison for a crime 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 (Gillian Taylforth) by James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde), which happens in July 1988. After simultaneously getting in too deep with a criminal organisation (The Firm), Den torches Willmott-Brown’s wine bar, The Dagmar, as revenge for Willmott-Brown's rape of Kathy, wife of his friend Pete (Peter Dean), and is then forced to take the blame for the deed by “The Firm”. Den is taken away to a “safe house” in Manchester to avoid police arrest, but when it becomes clear that “The Firm” are planning to kill him, Den goes "on the run". He is eventually forced to turn himself into the police in order to escape “The Firm’s” heavies. Den is put on remand at Dickens Hill prison in September 1988. For the next five months he is seen — in the company of a small group of new characters also confined in the prison — on a regular basis in EastEnders. Also in prison at the time is regular EastEnders character Nick Cotton (played by John Altman).

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 regular goings on in Albert Square had to fit convincingly around the pre-recorded Dickens Hill material; this “proved to be a major headache” for the programme makers. The Dickens Hill storyline has been referred to as a “soap-within-a-soap", and it “dominated” the majority of episodes that aired between the second half of 1988, and early 1989. Grantham has commented, “Banging Den up in Dartmoor – though we called it Dickens Hill – kept him alive for an extra year. It was the offer that the BBC made me, a brilliant idea, and I’m very grateful for it. I didn’t want to go in a way that harmed the show. This way I was able to record scenes for ninety episodes in five weeks. That must be a record. In the rest of the year I had time off...”

A new batch of characters was needed for the prison storyline. Den is joined by various inmates, each with their own back-story as to why they are in prison, including some who are connected to Den and his ongoing troubles with “The Firm”. Among the prisoners is "Barnsey" (played by actor John Hallam), who is Den’s cellmate and strongest ally. Others include Queenie (John Labanowski), Vic (Michael Brogan), Trevor Kellow (Peter Doran), Squeaky (Phil Smeeton) and Elliot Brownlow (David James). In addition, a couple of more “familiar faces” joine Den in prison, including Johnny Harris (Michael O’Hagan), who had been seen various time before the airing of this storyline, and original character Nick Cotton. Nick had been a semi-regular character since the first episode of EastEnders, a renowned villain who Den has a tempestuous history with. Nick’s presence provides Den with a link back to Albert Square.

It was while Nick is in prison that he admits to Den that he had killed Reg Cox, a character Den had found battered and dying in the first episode of the programme almost four years earlier. Nick had been prime suspect for the attack on Reg, but he was cleared of murder due to a lack of evidence and merely sentenced to probation for burgling Reg's home. The mystery of Reg Cox’s murder is finally solved when Nick confesses to it in prison, “thinking that Dirty Den would be impressed”.

As well as the inmates, prison officers also become regulars for the duration of the storyline, such as officers Crane (Raymond Trickett), McLeish (Neil Daglish) and Stone (Jeremy Young). Outside of the prison, members of the Firmaere also heavily involved in Den’s exit storyline, including Joanne Francis (Pamela Salem), the manageress of Strokes; Gregory Mantel (Pavel Douglas); and Brad Williams (Jonathan Stratt), who had appeared intermittently since 1986, but is seen on a regular basis during this storyline. Investigating police officers included DS West (Leonard Gregory) and D.I.Bob Ashley (Robin Lermittee), who join Walford CID determined to close down the firm. Occasionally, regular characters from the Albert Square are seen to visit Den in prison, this includes Den’s daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean), his friends Pete Beale, Pat Wicks (Pam St. Clement) and Joanne Francis, and even one of his worst enemies - Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard).

The Dickens Hill storyline continues for the first two months of 1989, eventually climaxing in February. One by one the storylines of the specially brought in characters are concluded, until the date of Den’s trial approaches. Den eventually bows out on 23 February 1989 in one of the programme's most famous episodes, which attracted an estimated 20 million viewers on its first airing. After being abducted by the firm in an ambush on the way to his trial, Den escapes from their custody. He plans to flee the country after a rendezvous by a canal (in Alperton) with Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully), the mother of his illegitimate child, Vicki. This proves to be his downfall, as Michelle was followed by The Firm, and the episode ends with Den being shot by a man (who is 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. Grantham has since commented, “I was annoyed when I saw the death scene, and so was Julia Smith who’d directed it personally. Because I’d made it clear there would be no going back, I filmed Den collapsing from the bullet and tumbling into the canal. But all the viewers had was the sound of a shot and a splash; it was a deliberate tease. Julia was furious.”

Three weeks after Den is shot, police find spots of blood on the towpath along the section of canal where Den had been shot, but a search of the canal fails to uncover his body. In May 1990, his daughter Sharon finds a distinctive ring that had belonged to him for sale on a market stall in Albert Square. She speaks to a young boy who had given it to the market trader, and the boy says he'd fished it out of the canal. The police search the canal again and found a body, which is identified as Den's.

However, there had been much speculation as to whether Den really had been killed — particularly after the first search of the canal had failed to uncover a body. Eagle-eyed viewers would also have noticed that he was not wearing the ring retrieved from the canal before he was shot. The scene had been set for Den to eventually return to EastEnders, and as early as 1991 the show's producers offered Leslie Grantham the chance to return, but he rejected their offer. The return of Den was on the show's agenda for almost every year afterwards, but for the next decade Grantham was unwilling to return to the series — particularly at the time when none of Den's family were in it — and felt that a comeback at that stage would have merely been a ratings-booster. However, Grantham accepted an offer to return to the series in 2003 after 14 years away, only to be killed off again in February 2005.

It is eventually revealed that the body found in the canal in 1990 was that of Mr Vinnicombe, who had been killed by Jack Dalton (Hywel Bennett), a character who did not appear until 2003, after the latter had found out that Den survived the shooting.