The EastEnders villain Chrissie Watts murdered had already cheated death once
When Chrissie Watts swung that iron doorstop in the Queen Vic on February 18, 2005, she wasn't just committing the most famous murder in EastEnders history. She was killing a man the show had already "killed" once before — 16 years earlier.
The victim, of course, was her husband: Dirty Den Watts.
The first death, in 1989
Den, played by Leslie Grantham, spoke the very first line of EastEnders in episode one on February 19, 1985, and spent the '80s as the scheming landlord of the Queen Vic. In February 1989, his dealings with the criminal organization known as The Firm caught up with him: a hitman shot him by the canal with a gun hidden inside a bunch of daffodils.
The evidence of his death piled up convincingly:
- The jacket — pulled out of the canal after viewers heard him fall in.
- The signet ring — his distinctive "D" ring turned up for sale at the local market.
- The body — his daughter Sharon even identified a corpse as his.
Except none of it was true. Den had faked the whole thing and fled to Spain to hide from The Firm — where, in 1999, he married a woman named Chrissie.
The comeback
On September 29, 2003, after more than 14 years presumed dead, Den strolled back into Albert Square in one of the most hyped soap returns ever staged. It lasted less than a year and a half. His relentless cheating — including an affair with Zoe Slater — and his sabotage of daughter Sharon's relationship gave Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman) every reason to want him gone.
The night at the Vic
The show saved his real death for its 20th anniversary episode, watched by 14.34 million people. Chrissie, Zoe, and Sam Mitchell tricked Den into confessing his schemes while Sharon listened from the shadows. Enraged, Den attacked Chrissie — and Zoe struck him over the head with an iron dog doorstop borrowed from his old enemy Pauline Fowler.
He went down. Then, in pure Den fashion, he cheated death one last time — stirring, grabbing Chrissie's ankle, and snarling his final line:
"You'll never get me out of the Vic!"
Chrissie proved him wrong with a second, fatal blow. The three women buried him in the pub's cellar and poured concrete over the top.
What happened to Chrissie
She nearly got away with it. The body wasn't discovered for months — surfacing, with brutal soap timing, on the day of Sharon's wedding to Dennis. Sam, who had secretly witnessed the fatal blow, helped unravel the cover-up, and Chrissie went to prison for murder.
For the record: Den was killed off exactly 20 years to the week after his first episode — and this time, the show buried him properly, laid to rest alongside his first wife, Angie.