WITH Dirty Den it's not a question of if he had a hammer, he'd hammer in the morning, in the evening and all over the world. It's that he is a Hammer.

An explanation. Leslie Grantham, who we all know better as Dirty Den, is a West Ham fan who eats, thinks and sleeps the happy Hammers.

Notice I didn't say drinks. That's his other passion. He loves wine and is currently on Carlton TV giving us wine tips on the fantastically titled Grantham Grapes.

But enough pleasure. It's back to the grim narrative of Eastenders and the phenomenal impact of Dirty Den.

"I was only in it for a few years and I loved playing him because he was such a charming character," says Leslie.

"I don't know why he became so popular. I think people just didn't get out enough at the time or their lives were so sad.

"The public simply makes up its mind and takes to a certain character. If I knew what made Dirty Den special, I'd have bottled up the ingredients and taken them with me."

Those ingredients were, indeed, magical. So magical that people began staying on their sofas compelled to watch as landlord Den played away from home.

More than 20 million viewers were sucked into watching his exploits as the randy rascal gripped the nation by selling dummies all over the place.

"I think The Telegraph came up with the name of Dirty Den and I felt it was quite nice. It could have been much worse.

"But the public have always been nice to me about Dirty Den and that's what matters. They pay my wages and whenever somebody sees me in the street they say they enjoyed what I was doing."

But money doesn't always talk and Leslie was beginning to feel the heat on the set of EastEnders. He'd had enough.

"It was such a great show but I left after about three years because I was sick of the moaning. I loved being in it but I was fed up with some of the other actors saying they didn't want to be there. So I left.

"It's like any other job because if you go into work and everyone there says they don't want to be there, then there's no point in carrying on. I just got sick of it.

"Actors are like that. You could call it an actor's syndrome. They're not happy when they're working and they're not happy when they're not."

Grantham has just appeared in Theft at Wycombe Swan and has also been pencilled in alongside Joe Pasquale for this year's panto The New Adventures of Peter Pan.

"I'm really looking forward to working with Joe Pasquale but I have to admit that Captain Hook is my favourite baddie." What, even better than Dirty Den? "Yes, he's a great character and I love playing him."

The father-of-three landed his first role in Jake's End for the BBC and then went on to appear in shows like The Jewel in the Crown, The Paradise Club and The Uninvited.

Recently, he was reunited with Anita Dobson on The Stretch. The compelling couple were back together again after all those days and nights in the Queen Vic.

"It was fantastic to see Anita again when we did The Stretch. We spoke about old times and it was as though we'd never been apart.

"I'm quite happy with the kind of roles I'm doing and I am still playing some bad guys. It could be worse, I could be marketing officer for Wycombe Swan or a writer for the Bucks Free Press."

So how did a streetwise Londoner who likes the blood and thunder of football end up picking grapes on a wine programme?

"My wife's family are prestigious wine makers and I've just become involved with it through them really. It's really exciting and it's something different."

But to get Leslie's juices really flowing, we need to get back to the football which he talks about with passion and depth.

"I've been going to watch West Ham since I was seven in 1954. I go to every home game and take my wife and children with me. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I remember when games used to be just on Saturday at three o'clock and midweek. Now they're on every day of the week and it's just overkill.

"I'm not too keen on referees either. How is making them professional going to make their decisions any better? They get most things wrong now, if they go professional, they'll get even more wrong."

So as long as the net's bulging and the wine's flowing, Leslie Grantham's world is full of bliss. Compared to referees, Dirty Den was a saint.