EastEnder Dirty Den Given The Boot
Dirty Den is set for the chop from EastEnders.
Soap chiefs have told actor Leslie Grantham his character will be killed off next year, according to the Daily Star.
It ends a nightmare year for Grantham, 57, who was shamed over internet sex revelations and caught slagging off fellow cast members.
Den will be written out early in the New Year - and the paper claims the door will NOT be left open for him to return.
It quotes a source: "The coffin lid will be nailed firmly shut. It will be one of the most sensational departures from a soap ever."
Actor Grantham - who reportedly pockets £275,000 a year for the role - was one of the original cast members when the soap launched in 1985.
He left four years later, supposedly shot dead, but then reappeared in September 2003 in a vain bid to halt the show's falling viewing figures.
But now, it appears, EastEnders chiefs have conceded Den's reappearance hasn't worked.
His two screen daughters, Sharon Watts and Vicki Fowler, played by Letitia Dean and Scarlett Johnson, are also both set to leave the show.
Bosses have also axed the Ferreira family after viewing figures slumped to 6.2m - less than Emmerdale.
Ananova
it was the look on his face!! 
