LONDON (AP) — Actor Leslie Grantham, who became a British TV icon during the 1980s as arch-villain “Dirty” Den Watts on the soap opera “EastEnders,” has died. He was 71.

Grantham’s management company, Advocate Agency, said he died Friday but did not disclose the cause.

“EastEnders” first aired in 1985, chronicling life in the fictional working-class London neighborhood of Walford. Grantham’s unscrupulous, adulterous character ran the Queen Vic pub with his wife, Angie, and their tempestuous relationship was central to many of the soap’s most dramatic plots.

Continue reading LONDON | Leslie Grantham, Dirty Den in ‘EastEnders,’ dies at 71 at STL.News.