Call the Midwife star Daniel Laurie is the son of one of EastEnders’ most famous faces
DANIEL Laurie is probably best known for playing the role of Reggie Jackson in BBC One’s Call The Midwife.
But, what many viewers may not know about the young actor is that he is closely related to a former Eastenders villain!
Daniel, who joined the cast of the long-running period drama in 2017 is the son of Leslie Grantham, who played “dirty Den” Watts in Eastenders.
Before his part on Call the Midwife, Daniel had also made appearances in Vera and Stella, and Finding Alice.
During the show’s sixth season, Daniel joined the show as Reggie, who goes to live with his uncle Fred Buckle, after his mother’s death.
Daniel’s father, Leslie, passed away in 2018 after a battle with lung cancer.
Leslie played the role of Dirty Den twice on the show, first from 1985–1989 then, after his ‘death’ and resurrection, returning subsequently from 2003–2005s.
Following a sex scandal in 2004, Leslie was written out of EastEnders in with Den’s new wife Chrissie (Tracy Ann Oberman) killing him.
Prior to his time on Eastenders, Grantham spent 10 years in prison, completing a fraction of a life sentence.
On 3 December 1966, Grantham attempted to rob a taxi driver, Felix Reese, in West Germany.
In a struggle between the two men, Reese died after being shot in the head with Grantham telling police officers that he did not know the gun was loaded and it had gone off during the struggle.
At his trial in 1967, he was subsequently convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.