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"EastEnders star Ricky Grover has revealed that his career in showbusiness was salvaged by the late Bob Monkhouse. The actor, who plays Andrew Cotton, said that the Golden Shot star&amp;#039;s invitation to be his support act at one of his final gigs prior to his death in 2003 was a shock.   Speaking to The Sun, Grover recalled: &amp;quot;I was gonna give up comedy a few years ago, until I got a call out of the blue from Bob Monkhouse. He asked if I&amp;#039;d come down to An Evening With Bob Monkhouse. &amp;quot;I thought &amp;#039;I don&amp;#039;t know Bob Monkhouse, he don&amp;#039;t know me. He must have me mixed up with Ricky Gervais or something&amp;#039;, so I blanked the message a few times. Then my PA called and said &amp;#039;Bob&amp;#039;s been on the phone, he really wants you there&amp;#039;. &amp;quot;So I went with my wife and sat there with a load of comedy legends. All of a sudden Bob Monkhouse said, &amp;#039;One of my heroes is here tonight, Ricky Grover&amp;#039;. I was looking around thinking, &amp;#039;This is a wind-up&amp;#039;. Referring to his popular 11 O&amp;#039;Clock Show character Bulla, Grover added: &amp;quot;He came up to me afterwards and said how much he loved Bulla. He told me I had to resurrect him. &amp;quot;So I did, and it got turned into the film My Big Fat Gypsy Gangster, and I landed a role in EastEnders. Not too bad for the remedial kid from Canning Town.&amp;quot; &amp;gt; EastEnders Andrew Cotton to stay on soap, confirms Ricky Grover &amp;gt; EastEnders Ricky Grover: &amp;#039;I turned Andrew role down five times&amp;#039; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/eastenders/news/a379975/eastenders-ricky-grover-bob-monkhouse-saved-my-career/>