Den and Angie Watts
Dennis "Dirty Den" Watts and Angela "Angie" Watts were a popular supercouple on the British BBC soap opera EastEnders. Den was played by Leslie Grantham and Angie was played by Anita Dobson. Unlike most soap couples, Den and Angie's heated relationship was far from being one of romance and happy endings. Their constant rows, affairs, immoral behavior as well as their inability to live with or without each other made them two of the most iconic British soap characters of all time.
Originally, Leslie and Anita were only signed up to play Den and Angie for a couple of months. However, the two of them proved to be such a hit that they soon became their on-off relationship became the centre storyline of the show for over four years until both actors decided to leave the soap of their own accord. Their divorce on Christmas Day, 1986 pulled in a record-breaking 30 million viewers, the likes of which had never been seen for a British soap before or since.
The ‘Den and Angie Years‘
Before the Show
Den and Angie had been childhood sweethearts in school, where Den had spent most of his time persuing Angie (as well as having deliances with other women such as Pat Harris). The two of them married on the 18th February 1968. They'd both planned for a happy marriage with a 'Big House in Margate' and 'lots of pitter patter of tiny feet'. Unfortanately this wouldn't be possible seeing as Angie was infertile.
So in 1972 they adopted their three year old daughter, Sharon. They both adored and doted on "Shal" - as she was known in her younger years - spoiling her as much as possible. However she was also sometimes used as a way for her parents to score points against each other, with each one competing for her affection. Sharon was initially a daddy's girl - to Den, she was his "Princess" - until early in the first year of the show when Den lost his temper and slapped her for flirting with the twenty-one year old barman Lofty Holloway when she was just fifteen! After that, Sharon stuck more to Angie's side, resenting her father for his antics and hurting her mother. Angie took great joy in this, getting on over on Den by having her "Little'en" on her side, until Angie would leave them both in 1988 when she would revert back to putting her father on a pedastal.
It was mentioned by Angie early in the show that Den was already having an affair with one of the staff members at the first pub they ran together. Still, in 1975 the Watts family moved into the flat above the Queen Victoria pub on Albert Square where Den and Angie worked as the landlord and lady. It would be revealed in 2003 that it was somewhere around this time when Den would seduce the young daughter of his best mate, Paula Rickman who would bear him the son he wouldn’t find out about until 2003, Dennis. Den's seedy affairs and dodgy deals were what gained him his title by the British press as 'Dirty' Dennis Watts.
Whatever problems went on in Den and Angie's marriage, they both did their best to hide it from the punters. As buisness partners they were stars whereas as husband and wife they were a disaster. Both would joke, laugh, gossip and (sometimes overly) flirt with the customers to hide their personal troubles. To the residents of Walford, they were the perfect couple, whereas in reality they were anything but.
1985 - A Marriage on the Rocks
Den and Angie started 1985 by celebrating their seventeenth wedding anniversary, but it soon became clear that their marriage was a sham. Behind the scenes of their great business partnership, there was not much of a relationship going on. Den was always taking mysterious phone calls when Angie’s back was turned, even though Angie knew that he was having an affair. At the end of one of their early episodes she hugged Den and asked him to promise that he wasn’t seeing 'her' anymore - Den responded by slowly pushing her away and then walking out the room without a word, while a crying Angie headed straight for the bottle, the truth about their marriage revealed. Den had been carrying on with his posh mistress of almost ten years, Jan Hammond, for a while.
Early in the year, Den even managed to wangle a holiday to Spain with Jan, under the pretext that he was checking out a possible time-share holiday home purchase. With Den gone, Angie did what she always did in times of trouble, she turned to alcohol to drown her sorrows. She also set about trying to seduce the men of Walford in a bid to get back at her philandering husband. Lofty Holloway, Simon Wicks and even Arthur Fowler all fell victim to Angie's not-so-subtle flirting, but her only successful conquest was local builder, Tony Carpenter. Tony fell for Angie, but she was only using him to get back at Den. The affair was conducted in secret but they were caught in a passionate clinch in the middle of The Vic by Sharon. Angie had to bribe her daughter to ensure her silence, and even informed her about Den's infidelity. Sharon was disgusted that both her parents were guilty of adultery. Upon Den's return from his holiday, Angie called off the affair, but it wasn't long before Sharon gave Den the impression that her mother had been up to no good. Den confronted Angie, and she admitted to the affair, but unfortunately for her, Den wasn't concerned about her infidelity, more about his reputation, which only sought to upset Angie even more.
What Angie and Den didn’t realise was that their behaviour was having a disastrous effect on their daughter. Already insecure about being adopted, Sharon was always the real victim of her parents arguments, despite the fact they both adored her. Sick of her parents constant sniping and her mother’s drinking, Sharon stole a bottle of gin from the pub and got drunk in her room. When her parents found her in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, the two of them decided to fix up their act for Sharon’s sake. Angie promised to stop drinking as long as Den stopped seeing Jan. This truce didn’t last long though as Angie’s frustration at being on the wagon soon drove Den back to calling Jan, which Angie soon caught onto and headed straight for a glass of gin after Den got home from one of his ‘late nights’.
Although Angie tried to stop drinking, her attempts always failed dismally and by the end of the year she'd even been arrested for drink-driving when she crashed Den's car on the way home from a darts match. Den had bigger things to worry with however, seeing as his daughter’s best-friend Michelle Fowler had discovered she was pregnant. She refused to name the father of her baby, arranging to meet him by the Canal. When the father’s car pulled up, the driver opened the door to have Roly - the Watts’ family poodle - jump out the car, revealing Den as the father of Michelle’s baby. Den promised to provide for his child, which was to be kept as one of the longest secrets for EastEnders for the next four years between Den and Michelle - a secret that Angie would never find out.
Despite a hectic year, Angie and Den managed to end it rather happily, even sharing a kiss and a cuddle under the mistletoe, after dealing with Sharon who’d been stealing money from the till as a form of rebelling against her parents.
1986 - The Breakdown
This year would prove to bring more trauma for Angie when Den's mistress, Jan, started to frequent The Vic. The physical arrival of Jan sent Angie's marriage into further decline as she was unable to contain her jealousy and anger. Angie became so depressed that she took a near lethal cocktail of booze and pills in an attempted suicide. By chance, Den returned home early following an argument with Jan, discovered Angie and rushed her to the hospital where she had her stomach pumped. Angie recovered, but was left shaken when she discovered how close to death she actually came.
Upon recovering, Angie decided to play Den at his own game and so she began another affair with Andy O'Brien. Den was furious when he discovered them in bed together. His rage was short-lived, however as he had more pressing things on his mind, such as the birth of his illegitimate daughter, Vicki Fowler and Sharon running away as she was sick of her parent’s troubles. Angie's affair with Andy only lasted a month, ending when Andy got back with his ex-girlfriend Debbie Wilkins. Andy died in a road accident shortly afterwards.
As the year moved on, Den decided that he wanted to leave Angie so he could settle down and marry Jan. He finally got round to telling Angie his intentions in October, after which Angie became distraught. In the first ever two-hander EastEnders episode, Den broke it to Angie that he wanted a divorce, but Angie was in denial. The episode was played out as a sort of tennis match between the two, with Den defending his reasons for why it was best for them to divorce, claming that he loved Jan and that he and Angie were going nowhere. Defeated, Angie pretended to give in, after which she broke down as soon as Den left the room. Desperate to hold on to her husband, Angie suddenly announced that she had six months to live, pleading for Den to stay with her. Wracked with guilt, Den decided to stay even though he swore to Angie ‘If you’re lying to me, Ang, I’ll kill ya!’ - after which he broke down and begged for forgiveness. An emotional Den then promised to try and make it up to his wife, he just needed some time to think. As soon as Den took Roly out for a walk, Angie showed her satisfied smirk - revealing her ‘illness’ as clever lie to a stunned audience.
Den set about organising a second honeymoon for them in Venice. The couple managed to share some happy moments together on this trip, with an ecstatic Angie dragging Den around the sights as well onto a gondola. However their holiday was ruined, when Jan turned up, and upon seeing her and Den together Angie went straight back on the gin that she'd not long given up. Den tried to explain to Angie on the Orient Express that he was just seeing Jan to tell her it was off, after which Angie felt guilty for bringing up the subject. She and Den managed to say ‘I love you’ to each other, everything seemingly going to Angie’s plans. Later on, however, a drunk Angie told the barman all about her big lie. Unfortunately for Angie, Den heard every word and from that moment on he reverted to his original plan to leave her, although he decided to wait a while before letting Angie know that he know about her "secret".
On Christmas Day that year, Den decided to get his revenge. Thinking that her marriage was safe, Angie was happier than ever. Den lead her on to believe everything was perfect, with the two of them dancing and laughing after Christmas dinner. Later on, Den pulled Angie aside for a ’quiet word’ behind the bar where Angie thanked him for the best Christmas ever. She also told him how she didn’t know how much longer she could ’keep up this performance’ - where Den replied ’You could keep this performance up for a lifetime!’. Den then informed her that he'd heard her conversation with the barman on the Orient Express and, disgusted with the ’sick joke’ she’d played on him, then served her divorce papers as a Christmas present (this episode pulled in the highest amount of viewers the show has ever seen since its 1985 arrival - 30 million). In response, Angie and Sharon packed their bags and walked out of the pub, choosing to take the route through the public area to cause Den the most embarrassment possible.
1987 - The Separation
Angie and Den continued to row constantly and in a bid for revenge, Angie vowed to take Den 'to the cleaners' for her divorce settlement, screaming ‘I want his BLOOD!’. In retaliation Den installed his mistress, Jan, as the new land lady of The Vic, which only sought to infuriate Angie even more. However, Den and Jan's cohabitation eventually led to the end of their relationship, especially when Jan started to realise that Den kept thinking of her as Angie. He even once let slip during a row and called her ’Ang!’. Den also decided that Jan was too posh for him, as well as the fact she made a terrible landlady, and so by the summer of that year he had given her her marching orders. Jan and Angie decided to team up and sneak into the Vic while Den was out to take all their stuff, leaving Den with next to nothing. He then started seeing local caterer Magda Czajkowski whom Den was optimistic about for a while until, after being forced into going on a drug export trip by local gangsters, The Firm, he discovered she’d gone off with Simon Wicks. By the end, Den was feeling incredibly low, being left in tons of debt, his wife and mistress gone, Sharon refusing to see him as well as Michelle not letting him see Vicki. By Summer 1988 it was becoming clear, even to Den, that he couldn’t live without Angie almost as much as he couldn’t live with her.
Den’s downfall however only served to please Angie, especially since she started the year extreme distressed and heartbroken, drinking constantly and making a fool of herself. Angie eventually secured herself a job as the manageress of The Vic's rival drinking establishment, The Dagmar. Owner, James Willmott-Brown, was only too happy to have Angie's expertise on board for his new soave, wine bar. The Vic was floundering without Angie, a fact that she seemed to delight over, and the sheer pleasure of watching Den suffer was all she needed to make her 'grin and bear' The Dagmar's yuppie clientele. However, behind her front, Angie was a wreck, drinking more heavily than ever and going on 'over the top' shopping sprees.
By May of that year the divorce papers finally came through, but it seemed that neither Den nor Angie were coping without each other, and although they both professed to be pleased about the divorce, it was obvious to everyone else that they were far from happy. Den asked Angie round one night to drink to their divorce, which ended with Den asking Angie to stay the night - before they were interrupted by Magda.
After the Dagmar opened - which didn’t help the decline of the Vic’s customers and staff - Angie tried to prove herself as a success and by staying on the wagon. On the Dagmar’s opening night, she confessed to Pat what she really wanted: ‘My own pub, my own home, and HIM - Dennis Watts, ‘ere I come!” However, neither of them were prepared to make the first move. Seeing her parent's misery, Sharon decided to intervene by setting up a dinner date between them, which eventually ended with them in bed together again. Angie and Den decided to keep their reconciliation quiet for a while, but by the end of the year, Angie finally lost her patience with The Dagmar clientele, and after slapping one of the customers in the face, she marched over to The Vic and offered to come back to work, but only as a business partner this time and not a wife. Den and Angie finished the year happily, clinking glasses to the words ‘strictly business’, though it was clear that Angie had other desires towards Den.
1988 - End of an Era
Den and Angie both began the year in high spirits, taking great joy in Willmott-Browns anger at losing his star barmaid. However, Angie’s continued drinking finally got the better of her one evening where she passed out and Den immediately called an ambulance. She was rushed to hospital with kidney-failure, brought on by her excessive alcohol abuse. She appeared briefly a couple of times during the next few months when either Den, Sharon or best friends Pat and Kathy went to visit her. On one of Den’s visits to her in March, she broke the ‘strictly business’ arrangement by declaring she still wanted Den and wanted to remarry him. Den promised to think about it, taking great pleasure in making Angie hang on, then revelling in rejecting her as revenge for her taking him to the cleaners the year before. He left saying ‘he wouldn’t marry her in this world or the next’ and wouldn’t want to spoil such a perfect partnership they already had.
After recovering from hospital, Angie returned to the Vic, with Den making sure that nothing stronger then orange juiced passed her lips. He showed delight however when Angie announced that her friends Sonny and Rene had arranged for her to go on holiday with them. It was on this holiday that Angie began to fall for Sonny and, realising she and Den were never gonna get back together, started her plans to go off with him. Meanwhile, Den was thinking about moving pubs (something which Angie had always begged him to do) as he was sick of the Vic. Angie feigned enthusiasm on her return to the Square, believing that Den knew nothing of her plans. He soon cottoned on however but was more concerned about his state of business rather then losing Angie. He visited a solicitor and returned with papers protecting himself and his business should Angie decide to leave him again.
The final episode of the famous couple took place in May 1988 with Angie’s departure from the Square. Sharon had moved out of the Vic and into a flat (paid for by Den) with Michelle and baby Vicki.
Den attended their flat warming party to have a chat with Michelle, before he and Sharon were soon pulled aside by Angie where she announced, very smugly, that she was going away to Spain with Sonny. Den then took great joy, as Angie walked towards the black cab that would whisk her away, that he’d known about her ‘sordid little plan’ ages ago and had made sure that everything was HIS. Angie, however, just smiled and said a final humble goodbye to the ‘love of her life’ - before jumping in the cab with Sonny. They were just about to drive off when Den gave them their leaving present - a bag of barely sugar! Angie took one final look up at the Queen Vic, before driving off into the sunset.
What Happened Next…
Neither Den nor Angie led seemingly happier lives after their split. After Angie’s departure, Den became involved in a criminal organization known as The Firm. After being framed for an arson attack which he’d helped set up to avenge his best friend’s wife, Kathy, who’d been raped by Willmott-Brown, he was sent to prison and eventually ‘shot’ and presumed dead. A memorial service was held and a year later a body was discovered which was falsely identified as Den’s, but buried as his. Angie attended neither of these services.
It transpired however that Den had actually faked his death in order to protect his daughters after The Firm started threatening their lives as well as his and went on the run for fourteen years before returning to Walford in 2003 to be reunited with his children; Sharon, Vicki and Dennis. His reign didn’t last long though, when his second wife Chrissie, whom he’d also cheated on, took her revenge in February 2005 by murdering him in cold blood on the Queen Vic floor - before burring his body in the cellar. He was eventually dug up and buried in a separate grave to his old one.
Angie’s life after her departure from Walford was just as tragic. In 1989, Sharon decided to fly out to Spain to visit her mother and Sonny, only to discover that Angie had run off without telling anyone. Nothing was told of Angie’s reaction to her beloved Den’s death, though she did ask Sharon to come and stay with her after Den’s first ’body’ was found but Sharon declined, resenting her mother for abandoning her and her father when they needed her most. Sharon eventually went out to America, where Angie now was, after the breakdown of her own disastrous marriage to husband Grant Mitchell.
In April 2002 however, news reached Walford from Sharon that, after decades of continued alcohol abuse, Angie Watts had died of cirrhoses of the liver. Sharon brought her body back home to Walford that year to be buried next to the body of ‘the man she couldn’t help falling in love with’ - Den (even though, a year later, it would be revealed that this body was a fake and that Den was still alive and kicking).
Angie’s Family
- Daughter (adopted): Sharon Rickman
- Grandson (adopted): Dennis Jr. Rickman
Den’s Family
- Daughter (adopted): Sharon Rickman
- Son: Dennis Rickman
- Daughter: Vicki Fowler
- Grandson: Dennis Jr. Rickman
Trivia
- The characters of Den and Angie were originally planned to be called Jack and Pearl.
- Both Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson teamed up as husband and wife on-screen again in Sky One's The Stretch.
- Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson were both asked to be the celebrity guests as the switching on of the Christmas lights in Oxford Street in 1986.