MILLIONS tuned in last night to watch soap legend Dirty Den make his EastEnders comeback after a break of 14 years.
Viewers had to wait until the closing moments of the hit BBC1 soap before the original East End bad boy stepped out of the shadows and uttered the chilling words to daughter Sharon: "Hello Princess".
His words will have sent a chill down the spine of soap addicts everywhere who remember Dirty Den being at the centre of almost every drama in Walford for four years.
Dennis Watts, played by Leslie Grantham, was in the show from the first episode on February 19, 1985.
As landlord of the Queen Vic and married to Angie, he was renowned for his dodgy dealings and his adultery.
He met a watery end in 1989 when he was shot on a canal path. Viewers heard a splash and a body was found a year later. But as last night's episode proved, it was obviously not Den.
His long-awaited appearance came as Eastenders picked up the best soap title for the third year running at the Inside Soap Awards last night.
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