BBC EastEnders’ original cast 40 years on – s.e.x scandals and Hollywood movies to tragic d.e.a.t.h.s
As EastEnders turns 40 this week - with a special live episode being aired on Thursday - we look at where are some of the biggest original cast members are now
EastEnders is 40 years old this year, having first been shown on BBC One on February 19 back in 1985.
Four decades later, some of the show’s original families are still in the show today or have gained soap legend status for their characters. Who can forget ‘Dirty’ Den Watts or ‘Nasty Nick’ Cotton? And what became of TV greats like Anita Dobson, who played Angie Watts, and Wendy Richard as Pauline Fowler?
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, EastEnders will broadcast a special hour long live episode this week on Thursday, February 20. And viewers will not only get to finally find out who Denise chooses to be with – Jack or Ravi – but an iconic character is set to return.
Though he wasn’t quite one of the original cast members, having joined the show 35 years ago, Ross Kemp is gearing up to reprise his role as hard man Grant Mitchell. Executive Producer Chris Clenshaw has teased, “His return will play a significant part in the show’s 40th anniversary, and will make up many moments of truly unmissable TV.”
But where are some of the biggest original cast members now? We take a look back at what happened to some of EastEnders biggest legends, from s.e.x scandals and Hollywood stardom to tragic d.e.a.t.h.s.
EastEnders legend Dot Cotton with her villain son ‘Nasty Nick’ ( Image: BBC)
Dot Cotton
One of EastEnders’ most iconic characters has to be Dot Cotton, played by the formidable June Brown.
Fans might not known that she actually appeared in a few episodes of Coronation Street before taking on what would become her most recognisable role as chain-smoking Dot in Albert Square, after being recommended for the part by none other than Leslie Grantham, who played Dirty Den.
The long suffering mum of evil Nick Cotton, Dot didn’t have the easiest life in the role she played from 1985 to 2020, with a break between 1993 and 1997, clocking up almost 3,000 episodes. In January 2008 at the age of 80 she became the first and, to date, only soap actor to carry an entire episode single-handedly looking back over her life and went on to win a Lifetime Achievement gong at the British Soap Awards.
Off-screen, she suffered personal tragedy when her first husband John Garley committed suicide in 1957. She went on to marry actor Robert Arnold and the pair had six children in seven years, one of which died as an infant. When Robert died in 2003, she lived alone in Surrey.
After leaving EastEnders in 2020 due to her age and failing eyesight, June was awarded an OBE for services to drama and charity work. She died on April 3, 2022 at the age of 95.
Nick Cotton
Dot’s son on EastEnders was bad boy Nick Cotton, who became the Square’s original soap villain.
Played by actor John Altman, ‘Nasty Nick’ returned to Walford six times over the years before eventually being k.i.l.l.e.d off in a drugs overdose in the 30th anniversary episode of the show which aired in February 2015.
Though it’s the role he’s best known for, the 72-year-old is still acting and is also the frontman of band Heavy Metal Kids. He has also starred in stage productions of Chicago and popped up in TV shows like Bo’ Selecta!, reality series The Real Marigold Hotel and horror film The Last Grail Hunter’
He married Bridgette Poodhun in 1986, but they divorced nine years later. They share one daughter. John released his autobiography, In the Nick of Time, in 2016.
Leslie Grantham as Dirty Den Watts and Anita Dobson as Angie Watts ( Image: BBC)
‘Dirty’ Den Watts
Leslie Grantham took on the iconic role of ‘Dirty’ Den Watts from 1985 to 1988 and 2003 to 2005. Married to Angie and dad to Sharon, played by Letitia Dean, for years EastEnders fans thought he was d.e.a.d after he was shot next to a canal.
But he became one of soap’s only characters to return from the d.e.a.d when he made a comeback in the Noughties – only to be k.i.l.l.e.d off again after being m.u.r.d.e.r.e.d in the Queen Vic.
Before landing the role, Leslie was convicted of murder in real life over the k.i.l.l.i.n.g of a German taxi driver in the 1960s during what he claimed was a robbery gone wrong. But he was convicted of m.u.r.d.e.r rather than manslaughter and though sentenced to life in prison, was granted parole in 1977, having served 10 years in prison.
After EastEnders, he was embroiled in an online sex scandal after a newspaper printed photos of him exposing himself while sucking his finger in a video to an undercover reporter, for which he apologised.
He went on to star in The Bill and EastEnders: The Aftermath in 2010 to mark the live episode of the show and its 25th birthday. He passed away from lung cancer at the age of 71 in 2018. His son Daniel Laurie is also an actor and plays Reggie Jackson in Call the Midwife.
Angie Watts
Den’s long suffering wife and first landlady of the Queen Vic Angie was brilliantly played by actress Anita Dobson, who at 75 is still going strong today.
She left Walford in 1988 to join her new partner Sonny under the Spanish sun before relocating to Miami and remarrying. However, she passed away off-screen in 2002 from cirrhosis due to her onscreen alcoholism.
Anita – who in real life is married to Queen guitarist Brian May – has since gone on to star in Red Dwarf, Hotel Babylon, Holby City and The Bill. And in 2011 she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing. This year she’s been seen onscreen playing Eunice Lytton in Father Brown and last year alone, appeared in Generation Z, Doctor Who and and Curfew.
David Scarboro, who played the original Mark Fowler, tragically died aged 20 in 1988 ( Image: Mirrorpix)
Pauline Fowler
Already famous before getting the EastEnders part, Wendy Richard found fame on Are You Being Served? before being cast as Pauline Fowler in 1985.
The straight-talking mother of Mark, Michelle and Martin Fowler, and wife to Arthur before their shocking split, she was one of the soap’s longest running characters until she finally met her end on Christmas Day 2006, collapsing due to a brain haemorrhage caused by her then-husband Joe hitting her with a frying pan.
Like her colleague June Brown, who played Dot Cotton, Wendy was also honoured with a Lifetime Achievement gong at the British Soap Awards and went on to star in Benidorm and Doctor Who. Sadly, four times married Wendy passed away in February 2009 at the age of 65 after a battle with breast cancer, which she was first diagnosed with in 1996 before in returned in 2002 and 2008.
The original Mark Fowler
Most people will remember Todd Carty for playing Mark Fowler, but fans might not know he wasn’t the original actor cast in the role.
David Scarboro appeared in the very first EastEnders episode in February 1985 as the son of Pauline and Arthur. However, the actor – who also starred in Grange Hill – was written out of the soap just two months later in April 1985, making brief returns to the role in 1986 and 1987.
Tragically, he died at the age of just 20 in April 1988 when his body was discovered at the Beachy Head in East Sussex, though an open verdict was recorded by a coroner. His life was later documented in a BBC production titled ‘My Brother David’, presented by his brother Simon.
