
Leslie Grantham
Actor · 1947 – 2018 · Camberwell, London, England, UK
British actor Leslie Grantham shot to fame in 1985 as Den Watts, the original landlord of the Queen Vic, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The character quickly became a national favourite and gained the nickname Dirty Den mostly because of the way he treated his wife Angie, played by Anita Dobson, and the several affairs and nefarious activities he conducted. At Grantham's request the character was killed off in 1988, gunned down by the gangsters he had betrayed. He returned to the soap in 2003 where it was revealed Den faked his own death to live in exile in Spain. It was widely speculated that Grantham was lured back with a £500,000-a-year contract and some 17 million viewers watched his return - an impressive figure, but not as impressive as the 30 million who tuned in to watch Den divorce Angie on Christmas Day, 1986. Two years later, in 2005, Den Watts was killed off once and for all in an episode that drew in 16.2 million viewers. The reason for Grantham's exit this time was an online sex scandal, revealed by a Sunday newspaper a year earlier. This was not the first time Grantham had courted controversy of course. Not long after finding fame in the soap Grantham's past became front page news; on 3 December 1966, when was serving as a young British soldier in West Germany, he attempted to rob a taxi driver, Felix Reese, in Osnabrück A struggle between Grantham and the driver followed, and Reese died from a gunshot wound to the head.In his statement to the police following his arrest, Grantham said that he did not know the gun was loaded and it had gone off during the struggle, which would have resulted in a conviction for manslaughter if a jury believed this version of events. However, at his trial in 1967 he was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Although he had committed the murder in West Germany, he served the entirety of his imprisonment in various British prisons. This was because soldiers and officers convicted of any criminal offence that warrants a sentence of over two years are automatically transferred to Her Majesty's Prison Service, since they are also automatically dishonourably discharged. Grantham was released in 1977, having served 10 years. Whilst in prison, Grantham discovered acting and was encouraged by Labour politician T. Dan Smith and Doctor Who actress Louise Jameson to take up acting upon his release. Away from EastEnders, Grantham enjoyed a high profile career throughout much of the 1990s with the starring role of gangster Danny Kane in the BBC drama The Paradise Club, and maverick undercover cop Mick Raynor in 99-1. Other credits include the sci fi series The Uninvited (which he also produced), Fort Boyard, The Bill and The Stretch, which reunited him with Anita Dobson. He has also appeared in the films The Wedding Tackle, Charlie and Mob Handed, and starred in the titular role of The English Neighbour on Bulgarian TV in 2011. He died on the 15th June, 2018 in hospital following a short illness.
Movies19
Movie4.4DramaActionWhen American Ranger John Cutter fails to save a family being held hostage and loses his entire team in a confrontation with infamous Ukrainian arms dealer Igor Rodin, he is discharged from the army.
Search and Destroy
2020 · 34 votes
Movie4.8ComedyCrimeTwo unlikely friends set out on a mission of revenge.
Lava
2001 · 4 votes
Movie4.9ComedyScience FictionThe story begins on a small spaceship docking with a refueling station. On board are a group of four aliens, Bernard, Sandra, Desmond, and Julian. During a particularly tedious period of their stay at the station, the other three begin playing with the ship’s controls while Bernard is outside playing spaceball. They accidentally disconnect his part of the ship, leaving him stranded while they crash into a large blue planet close by...
Morons from Outer Space
1985 · 47 votes
Movie4.4DramaActionSet in Post World War II Britain, chronicles the rise and fall of real life British crime lord Charlie Richardson.
Charlie
2004 · 10 votes
Movie5.2ThrillerTV MovieDark and brooding thriller. A group of mercenaries are assembled in Amsterdam by a British intelligence officer. Believing they are awaiting the details of a new mission, they decide to spend their free time in the sleazy bars and brothels. Over the course of the weekend it gradually becomes clear that all is not what it seems. Unknown to them their paths have all crossed before, and the deceit and violence of the past is about to become their own downfall.
The Nightwatch
1989 · 5 votes
Movie4.2ThrillerHaskell is assigned a job by his boss, the aristocratic Landon-Higgins, to highjack a high security van in broad daylight while it's in the shadow run (out of radio contact with the main security firm). He assembles a team to carry out the heist, but things don't go according to plan and Haskell begins to think his boss might be double crossing him. Add to this, a teenage boarding school pupil has already witnessed some of the meetings of the team and Haskell's in real trouble.
Shadow Run
1998 · 12 votes
Movie3.0CrimeActionInspired by true events, the shocking story of London's most feared and notorious brothers Reggie and Ronnie Kray as they break Frank 'The Mad Axeman' Mitchell from Dartmoor Prison in December 1966.
The Krays: Dead Man Walking
2018 · 7 votes
Movie9.0DramaThrillerAlan and Sylvia fall in love and Alan gains a renewed sense of purpose. He begins to hope for an eventual release on licence. However both he and Sylvia have to face the fact that, for the foreseeable future, they cannot enjoy any physical intimacy. They decide to treat their affair as a long Victorian courtship.
Knockback: 2
1985 · 1 votes
- Movie8.0ComedyThriller
Comedy thriller deals with an arranged marriage.
Gummed Labels
1992 · 1 votes
Movie3.0DramaCrimeEric Williams has been on the run for 27 years for a murder he didn't commit. When his estranged daughter is brutally attacked in London, the police are reluctant to act, so Eric must return to a city he no longer recognises to deal with the culprits himself, relying on help from his last remaining friends.
Vengeance
2020 · 5 votes
MovieDocumentaryA controversial study of the phenomenon of football hooliganism, looking at the social context and tribal instincts that lie behind it.
Hooligan '96
1996
Movie7.5DramaThrillerIn 1965, at the age of 25, Alan Ackland is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a business associate. In 1971, Sylvia Barker, lonely and depressed after a failed marriage and with two young children to bring up alone, seeks a new direction in her life and applies to become a voluntary prison visitor. Several years later their paths cross.
Knockback: 1
1985 · 1 votes
Movie7.0TV MovieDramaWhen Terry (Grantham) is sentenced to a twenty-year stretch for a murder he did not commit, his wife Sam (Dobson) discovers that his apparently respectable business life has in fact been a cover for a vast criminal empire - drugs, protection, armed robbery, he was involved in it all. After the initial shock of the discovery has passed, Sam finds herself faced with a clear problem: should she leave it all behind, forget Terry and start her life afresh, or should she take charge of the business in her husband's absence?
The Stretch
2000 · 1 votes
MovieDramaTensions rise in a small rural community when a grieving young girl finds solace in the unlikely friendship she forms with a reclusive actor, but things quickly spiral out of control when he is wrongly accused of sexually abusing her.
Movie10.0ComedyThe sexual rivalries between a group of friends cause comic chaos during a stag night celebration.
The Wedding Tackle
2000 · 1 votes
Movie3.6ThrillerA beautiful journalist will stop at nothing to get revenge for her daughter's murder. With no help from corrupt cops she decides to take the law into her own hands and joins a vigilante gang of gangsters and football hooligans to track down the sick, sadistic killers and get her justice....
Mob Handed
2016 · 6 votes
- MovieComedyDrama
Leslie Grantham and Lucy-Jane Quinlan portray fictionalised versions of themselves in this road trip comedy that examines family, celebrity, friendship and love. When Leslie's ex wife reveals she's dying, Leslie and his estranged daughter must make the trip to the Lake District to visit her on her death bed. But with all the trains cancelled due to bad weather, Lucy is forced to join her dad as he makes the journey by car.
Leslie
2013
Movie2.0A guide to good sex, including 'Dr' Jeremy Hardy's comedy sketches.
Jeremy Hardy Gives Good Sex
1995 · 1 votes
Movie7.5ComedyDramaA taxi driver is driven to distraction by her love of Tom Jones.
It's Not Unusual
1995 · 2 votes
Series17
TV4.2SoapDramaThe everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.
EastEnders
1985 · 229 votes
TV7.9DramaAction & AdventureThe adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who
1963 · 722 votes
TV6.8CrimeDramaThe daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984 · 47 votes
TV3.4Talk ShowA panel of four women discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs to celebrity gossip.
Loose Women
1999 · 19 votes
TV7.2CrimeDramaSet during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992 · 33 votes
TV7.0DramaA one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
Playhouse
1974 · 1 votes
TV6.1ComedyTalk ShowJonathan Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band.
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
2001 · 27 votes
TV7.3Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaDramarama is the name of a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The series was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS, however production responsibilities were divided amongst most of the regional ITV franchise holders. Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer. Dramarama was largely a place for new talent to prove themselves and was a launching pad for the likes of Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney, David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was one of Dennis Spooner's last credits. One of Dramarama's episodes, "Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest", gained so much popularity that it was turned in to its own series the following year. It starred Lee Ross and was based around a large foster home. The episode "Blackbird Singing In The Dead of Night" was developed by Granada into the TV series Children's Ward. It was also repeated for the first time since its original broadcast on 5 January 2013, during CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend. The Series 7 episode "Back To Front" – notable for featuring a mirror image of the Yorkshire Television logo card at the end – was repeated on 6 January 2013, again as part of CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend.
Dramarama
1983 · 4 votes
TV6.9ComedyThe absurd adventures of two defective detectives, who - despite unbelievable incompetence - somehow manage to solve their cases (or be nearby when the cases are solved) and retain their jobs.
The Detectives
1993 · 22 votes
TV6.8CrimeDramaCluedo was a UK television game show based on the board game of the same name. Each week, a reenactment of the murder at the stately home Arlington Grange of a visiting guest was played and, through a combination of interrogating the suspects and deduction, celebrity guests had to discover who committed the murder, which of six weapons and in which room it was committed, whilst viewers were invited to play along at home.
Cluedo
1990 · 6 votes
TV6.2DramaCrimeFocuses on brothers Frank and Danny Kane. Their mother is the matriarch of a South London criminal gang, assisted by Danny. Frank has become a priest but leaves the church; he inherits The Paradise Club following the death of their mother and returns to London to try and steer Danny away from crime.
The Paradise Club
1989 · 5 votes
TV4.8Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaUrban Gothic was a horror based series of short stories shown on Channel 5 running for two series between May 2000 and December 2001. Filmed on a low budget and broadcast in a later time-slot, it nonetheless acquired a following. It has also since been repeated on the Horror Channel. Set around London there is an underlying story thread that only becomes clear in the last episodes of each series. Each episode was different in style from the others, running the gamut of documentary-style independent film to spoof, to slick dramas similar in style to The Outer Limits or The Twilight Zone.
Urban Gothic
2000 · 7 votes
- TV6.5Comedy
It's Only TV But I Like It
1999 · 2 votes
TVCrimeDramaImplicated in an enquiry, maverick undercover DI Mick Raynor goes deep undercover to infiltrate dangerous criminal networks, often bending the rules in order to get results.
99-1
1994
TV5.0Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly present an entertainment variety show with music, comedy and audience participation.
The Ant & Dec Show
1995 · 2 votes
TV6.5The Uninvited is an ITV science fiction television mini-series first shown in 1997 as four fifty minute episodes. The series was made by Anglia Television. It was created by Leslie Grantham, who also features as a police officer with a secret. Steve Blake is a photographer who sees the head of British Nuclear Power killed in a horrific car crash, but then turning up alive and well. The village of Sweet Hope contains a mystery: it collapsed into the sea and the population was apparently saved by two police officers. Blake tries to investigate what has happened to the survivors who have all gone on to obtain positions of power within the British establishment. When Blake visits the submerged village he discovers a chilling secret...
The Uninvited
1997 · 2 votes
- TV9.0
Drama, set in Scotland, about the world of boxing.
Winners and Losers
1989 · 1 votes