LOOKING tanned and healthy, actor Leslie Grantham, best known as shifty, adulterous former Queen Vic landlord 'Dirty Den' in EastEnders, has eased into his pensionable years well.
At 69, he says he's in "semi-retirement", and it's only his debut children's fantasy novel Jack Bates And The Wizard's Spell – aimed at 'kids from eight to 80' – which has lured him back into the media spotlight.
He was once a prime tabloid target; headline grabbers included his conviction for the murder of a German taxi driver when he was in the army – for which he served 10 years in prison – verbal attacks on his co-stars and a notorious incident in which he exposed himself on a webcam to a 23-year-old undercover reporter (he later said he was set up).
But he remains philosophical.
"Life isn't a straight line. It's like travelling the motorway. Every now and then, you have to take a diversion. Unfortunately, some of my diversions have been quite catastrophic. But I'm safe in the knowledge that what I do now is good," he says.
"Of course I have regrets, but you can't go round wearing a hair shirt all your life, otherwise you'll never get out of bed in the morning. I f***ed up, now I'm going to move on."
Since his divorce from actress Jane Laurie in 2013 – they were married for 31 years and have three sons – Grantham seems to have almost disappeared from TV screens. He left EastEnders 11 years ago, and since then he's done largely touring theatre work and panto.
He says he's mellowed in the past decade. He lives in Surrey, and is currently single. "I've messed up so many people's lives, why mess up someone else's?" he says, half joking. "I don't get lonely because I have friends. And when I'm writing, that's the world I live in."
He remains tight-lipped about his divorce, ex-wife and children; he's much more vocal about his first children's novel, a fantasy tale chronicling the adventures of Jack Bates and his friends in the world of the OTHER, combining the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower and the story of King Richard III with myth and legend, featuring faeries, pixies, dwarfs and trolls. He hopes it will be the first of a three-book chronicle.
So is this a new career as a novelist?
"I've always written, but I don't have much confidence. I've got half a dozen scripts half-finished. I've never read Harry Potter, but then I've never read Fifty Shades Of Grey, because the nearest thing to that was the Dulux colour chart, and there are only 40 [shades] on that."
Most of us, of course, still know Grantham as 'Dirty Den'.
"I still get recognised for EastEnders," he admits. "People say, 'Hello Den, when are you going to get back in and sort that lot out?' I say, 'I've been killed twice', and they say, 'That doesn't matter. You're rubbish but you're better rubbish than they are'."
Grantham starred in the hit soap from 1985-89 and then returned from 2003-2005, leaving in the wake of the webcam scandal.
During this time, he also made disparaging comments towards fellow cast members Jessie Wallace and her screen husband Shane Richie. Today, he's keen to move on, and says he's changed.
"I haven't found religion. I haven't discovered God. I just feel happier with myself. For years, I was on the front pages of newspapers every day for whatever reason. It clouds your vision," he explains.
He says he's still offered plenty of TV work, but turns down a lot. He's been offered reality shows too – but isn't interested. "It's not reality TV, it's humiliation TV. Why would I want to humiliate myself more than I already have?"
He says he can afford to pick and choose, contrary to reports that he ended up living in friends' spare rooms after his divorce.
"You've got to deal with it and get on with it. I was very lucky that I had friends who supported me," he says of his marital split.
A victim of phone-hacking, Grantham was one of a clutch of celebrities who settled claims with News International in 2013. For now, he's in the less high-profile world of the novelist, and is already thinking about the second book. He writes wherever he is, whether at home or on his iPad.
"The only thing I haven't got is a Pokemon Go and I don't want one of those. I grew up with The Famous Five.
"What I've tried to do is inform, educate and entertain," he adds of his book. "If it's not a success, I'll write something else. I can't sit and watch Escape To The Country and Flog It! all day."
:: Jack Bates And The Wizard's Spell by Leslie Grantham is published by Mambi Books, priced £7.99.
