Editing Leslie Grantham (section)

=== Later life and death ===
Following his second exit from the EastEnders, Leslie went on to direct and star in a pantomime production of Peter Pan in the Christmas of 2005. He also spoke publicly against the show after his 2005 departure, claiming that EastEnders was unrealistic as there was "a murder every week". Then in 2006, Leslie joined ITV cop-show The Bill to play a guest character on the run from prison. Leslie continued to star in television and theatre right up until 2018.

In 2016, Leslie spoke out once again about his feelings towards EastEnders, when the show retconned his famous "Hello, princess" line, as part of a storyline involving Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) learning that her biological father was actually Gavin Sullivan (Paul Nicholas). Of the retcon, Leslie said: "Den is still remembered and people still ask me to say, ‘Ello princess’, because it was one of those bits that made him so popular. You do feel like you own it when you’ve made such an impact." He proceeded to state the show's writing was "pretty poor" as a result of the storyline.

In 2018, Leslie received treatment for an undisclosed illness. He passed away on 15 June 2018, at the age of 71. The episode broadcast on the night of the 15th June 2018 was dedicated to Leslie, with a title card tribute being shown at the end of the episode, post-credits.