The Eastenders

Anita and Leslie Grantham�s partnership in EastEnders is part of soap history. Leslie's moody, menacing presence perfectly complemented Anita's bubbly but fiery nature. More than 30 million people watched Dirty Den demand a divorce from Angie in 1986. People still remember Angie Watts, all ivory-teeth clenched smile, cherry-red hair and relentless make-up.
�I joined this business to be an actress, not a celebrity. I became one reluctantly. I could have been like everyone else, making money, talking to the press, but I didn't. The most hurtful part was that people I thought were trustworthy, and that I had been kind to, actually went for the quick buck by selling stories about me. It goes on all the time. I still find it dishonourable and unthinkable. I couldn't sell a story on someone else. I couldn't sell a story on myself, come to that. It's particularly bad in tis country, because of jealousy. After Angie and Den took off, there was an undercurrent of resentment from some actors in the cast. When I bought my first smart car - a Mercedes sports convertible - I kept driving my beat-up Vauxhall Cavalier in case others thought I was a flashy, jumped-up actress."
Off-screen there was no escape for Anita. Women would write to her about their own tragic relationships. In the end it all got too much. When she quit EastEnders in 1988 her departure even made it on the Six O'Clock News. The pressures of the series almost drove her to a nervous breakdown, she said afterwards. She lost two stone from overwork and the stress of constant headlines about her personal life.
She created such a strong image with Angie, it was difficult to find other work after she left. "Whether I did would have been wrong. If I'd been in a classical play where I spoke nicely, they's day I was betraying my cockney roots. So I did Budgie on stage, which I thought was in the same vein, and critics said, "Don't bother to see it. She's only playing Angie Watts."