met actress Louise Jameson during her visit to Leyhill near the end of his imprisonment; she had also encouraged him to take up acting and he became good friends with her. Career Early work On release from prison, Grantham decided to pursue an acting career and trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. His theatre work included a role in a play at the Battersea Free Theatre written by television director Matthew Robinson. In 1982, Grantham made his television debut as Boollie in a BBC2 Playhouse edition called "Jake's End". The following year he appeared as Frank on an episode of the short lived sitcom Goodnight and God Bless. Grantham was then cast by Matthew Robinson as Kiston, the henchman of Davros, in the Doctor Who serial Resurrection of the Daleks (1984). He also played a signals sergeant in episode 12 of the television mini-series The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and wrote a play entitled A Reason To Live, which won the Gloucester Drama Festival award for best original play. He made a brief appearance in the Mike Hodges film Morons from Outer Space (1985), but by the time the film was released Grantham had gained his best known role. EastEnders In 1984, Grantham auditioned with the BBC for a part in its new soap opera EastEnders, which aired in February 1985. He was recommended by Matthew Robinson, who was to become a key member of the EastEnders production team. Grantham had auditioned for the role of market trader Pete Beale, but he was offered the part of Den Watts. The character, landlord of The Queen Victoria public house, quickly became a national favourite and gained the nickname Dirty Den mostly because of the awful way he treated his wife Angie, played by Anita Dobson, with one of his many affairs occurring at the age of 39, when he fathered a child with 16-year-old Michelle Fowler, played by Susan Tully. On 25 December 1986, Grantham's character served his on-screen wife with divorce papers, with the famous line "Happy Christmas, Ange." The episode was watched by a record 30 million viewers – over half the British population. In 1988, the character sold his pub to Frank Butcher, played by Mike Reid, and gradually drifted out of key storylines until finally departing in February 1989, although his final scenes had been filmed the previous autumn. Grantham had announced his