Dickens Hill
| Johnny Harris |
|
EastEnders character |
| Portrayed by |
Michael O'Hagan |
| First appearance |
11 February 1988 |
| Last appearance |
25 June 1991 |
| Barnsey Barnes |
|
EastEnders character |
| Portrayed by |
John Hallam |
| Duration |
1988–1990 |
| First appearance |
8 September 1988 |
| Last appearance |
1 May 1990 |
| Queenie Price |
|
EastEnders character |
| Portrayed by |
John Labanowski |
| Duration |
1988–1989 |
| First appearance |
13 September 1988 |
| Last appearance |
14 February 1989 |
| Trevor Kellow |
|
EastEnders character |
| Portrayed by |
Peter Doran |
| Duration |
1988–1989 |
| First appearance |
20 September 1988 |
| Last appearance |
9 February 1989 |
| Victor Hampton |
|
EastEnders character |
| Portrayed by |
Michael Brogan |
| Duration |
1988–1989 |
| First appearance |
29 September 1988 |
| Last appearance |
5 January 1989 |
|
|
| Ms. Martin |
|
EastEnders character |
| Portrayed by |
Karen Archer |
| First appearance |
13 October 1988 |
| Last appearance |
6 December 1988 |
| Gillie Hampton |
|
EastEnders character |
| Portrayed by |
Clare James |
| Duration |
1988–1989 |
| First appearance |
6 October 1988 |
| Last appearance |
5 January 1989 |
|
|
Dickens Hill is a fictional prison in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The prison is part of a storyline that first aired between 1988 and 1989. The storyline centres on the popular character Den Watts and was filmed on location at Dartmoor Prison in Devon. The episodes were shot in a block of intensive filming, over five weeks, but they were worked into regular episodes of EastEnders later on in the year, from September 1988 to February 1989. This was done in order to keep the character Den Watts on-screen after Den's actor, Leslie Grantham, had left the show.
Two of the most successful and popular characters in the history of EastEnders have been pub landlords Den and Angie Watts, played by Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson. They are original characters who both appear in the very first episode of EastEnders in February 1985, and were largely responsible for attracting the highest episode BARB rating for a UK soap opera, when 30.15 million viewers tuned in on Christmas Day 1986 to witness Den hand Angie divorce papers as a Christmas present. A quarter of a century later, the episode is still the fourth most highly viewed UK programme of all time, coming behind the 1966 World cup final, the funeral of Princess Diana (1997), and a 1969 Royal family documentary.
However, in 1988 actress Anita Dobson decided that she wanted to leave the serial. After over three years on-screen, the character departed in May 1988. Actor Leslie Grantham, who played Den, came to the decision soon afterwards that he too wanted to move on. He has commented, “I told them in November 1987 that I wanted to leave and Den had to die. It had to be final for both my sake and for the sake of the rest of the cast. After all, everything you seemed to read in the papers about EastEnders concerned 'Dirty Den'.” However, the executive producer of EastEnders, Julia Smith, didn't want the programme to suffer the “double blow” of losing both Den and Angie at the same time. The solution to the problem was one of the soap's "most complex and creative exercises" that required "intricate planning". The producers and writers came up with an idea to enable Den to stay as an on-screen presence for an extra year, while keeping Grantham working on EastEnders for only a few more months. The story, which was conceptualised by scriptwriters Tony Holland and Bill Lyons, saw Den Watts imprisoned. The programme makers’ intention was to record the prison footage in a block of intensive filming, which would then be included in episodes of EastEnders for the rest of the year. Grantham has since said, "I agreed to a storyline about the jail sentence that would lead up to the end slowly, and allow new major stories to be developed. I’d always known that I didn’t want to play Den for twenty-five years. I didn’t want Den to end up another Ken Barlow, thanks very much.”
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