Leslie Grantham - Crime files. Eastenders Tv Star Killer

[Music] hi everyone it's paul here from unusual things back again today for one of our crime files now today i'm in my own home city of portsmouth and i'll tell you why we're going to look at some things in a minute which is um going for a drastic change right now but i want to tell you a little story about it first and why we're here to see it so today i'm here to talk about former eastenders star dirty den aka real name leslie grantham born on the 30th of april 1947 and died on the 15th for june 2018. grantham was an english actor best known for his role as dirty den watts and the bbc soap opera eastenders he was born in camberwell in london and was the son of adelaide and walter william grantham he enlisted in the royal fusiliers regiment the british army in 1965 and at the age of 18 grantham married australian jane laurie in 1981 the couple had three sons and divorced in 2013. his son daniel lori is also an actor who plays reggie jackson and call the midwife having enlisted in the british army grantham soon be posted to west germany where he quickly found himself in debt to army colleagues he resorted to criminal activities in his attempt to clear the death now on the 3rd of december 1966 grantham attempted to rob a taxi driver felix reese in osborne he threatened him at gunpoint demanding money but in a struggle between the two men rhys died after being shot in the head grantham was arrested soon after and charged with murder 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 the conviction for manslaughter had the jury believed his version of the events however at his trial in april 1967 he was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment although he had committed the murder in west germany he served his entire sentence in british prisons this was because soldiers and officers convicted of any criminal offence that warrants a sentence of over two years are automatically discharged and transferred back to a british prison what do you think about when they dredge up the really private things from the past well i think it's about the unpleasant things well i think it's marvelous that uh julia smith and tony holland have created the program that can get consistently over 20 million viewers a week you're avoiding that i'm telling you but she's very good julia smith and tony holland and now you're creeping yeah i have to i have to make sure i'm here next year i need the money for the mortgage and i've got a baby on the way branford served some of his sentence in his former prison behind me hmp kingston prison which is now being renovated into flats and houses as you can see hmp kingston prison was originally built in 1877 as a victorian radial design prison kingston has had a varied history and at one point was used for a boy's ball saw and then became a police station during world war ii in 1965 capital punishment for murder was abolished in britain and as a result kingston began exclusively to hold inmates serving life sentences kingston became the only prison in england and wales to have a unit exclusively for elderly male prisoners serving life sentences but in april 2003 a report from her majesty's chief inspector presence stated that the elderly prisoner unit at kingston provided unacceptable conditions for its inmate the report detailed that movement in the unit was severely restricted there was insufficient privacy and the rooms had too little natural light poor ventilation and in some cases no power points whatsoever on the 10th of january 2013 it was announced that kingston prison will close in the next few months as a part of a wider prisons closure program established by the ministry of justice in 1984 grantham auditioned for the bbc for a part in a 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 that market trader pete bill but he was offered the part of dem watts now denmark was the character who was the landlord of the queen victoria pub and he quickly became a national favorite and gained the nickname dirty den mostly because of the awful way that 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 michel fowler played by suzanne tully now on the 25th of december 1986 grantham's character served his on-screen wife with divorce papers with the famous line happy christmas and this episode was watched by a record 30 million viewers and over half of the british population in 1988 happy christmas the character sold his pub to frank butcher played by mike reid ricky and gradually drifted out of key storylines until finally departing in february 1989 although his final scenes had been filmed the previous autumn brantform had announced his intention to leave the soap early in 1988. in may 2004 sunday newspaper printed photographs of grantham exposing himself and masturbating while sucking his finger in a sexually suggestive manner via a webcam from his dressing room to an undercover reporter and grantham also allegedly dressed as captain hook whilst pleasuring himself and insulted several cast members of eastenders and including most of the main cast grantham released a statement which read i am wholeheartedly ashamed of my behavior and feel that i have let down my colleagues as well as my friends and my family in june 2018 it was reported that grantham had returned to the united kingdom from his home in bulgaria to receive treatment for lung cancer he died on the 15th of june 2018 age 71. that evening's episode of eastenders featured a tribute to grantham whilst his co-star and on-screen wife anita dobson described him as a wonderful and special actor witty and very talented i shall remember him very fondly and with affection i suppose the key thing with all this is people getting a second chance you know he murdered someone in germany whilst in the army shot him in the head because the guy tried to wrestle the gun off of him because he robbed him and he served his time and he served some of that time in this prison here kingston prison which is now becoming flats and houses so you've got to ask yourself do people deserve second choices in life i think so but for murdering someone should you then go on to become a successful actor who knows sad part was the downfall before you know once he retired from acting but once he got pushed out of acting making webcams suggested videos to people not on so there you go another one from the crime files leslie grantham well loved in his day in the 80s for playing dirty den surf time in that prison now i really did try hard to look for leslie grantham's grave i can't find it anywhere if you know where it is if you know whether he was buried or cremated leave it in the comments down below let me know um but i've looked everywhere i would have gone and visited his grave as part of the crime files as you know i usually do um but i've searched everywhere not in the cemetery i've just searched everywhere on the web to see if i can find out anything i can't find it but never mind now i've got to say a massive thank you to teresa harris and to elena who she didn't leave me her last name as they've contributed towards the channel i really appreciate that appreciate that if you do want to contribute towards the channel that sun is beautiful there's a donate button on my um youtube banner it literally just goes towards the petrol trains are getting quieter these days yeah it just literally goes towards the fuel to help me travel to locations but today i didn't need any fuel i've walked here i live up the road i don't live too far away so the guys are very kindly just let me come in from the side door to film a little bit to show you what's going on now and how [Music] you can see that it used to be a prison and it's now being converted into flats and houses so that's it for me today another crime files it's amazing what's on your own doorstep when you really look into it and you have a look around behind me there is the back of kingston prison which is now being converted as i've already said into houses and flats and when i was a kid i grew up over there and one night we heard on our rooftop because my brother and i's bedroom went was a flat roof someone escaped from that prison and was on the back of our roof as a young kid that was pretty scary it was more scary than what was living next door to a cemetery but i don't mind cemeteries as you guys know by now anyway that's it for another crime files don't forget to leave your comments down below like and subscribe to the channel and to the videos that you watch see you all in the next one take care [Music] you

Channel: Unusual Things

Views: 122,159

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Id: Zjxk3X8v4BM

Length: 10min 53sec (653 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 01 2022