Arabella Weir has recounted a “frightening” experience with “sex pest” EastEnders star Leslie Grantham.
The 65-year-old worked with the ‘Dirty’ Den Watts actor in 1995 on cop show 99-1, and still has vivid memories of being cornered by him in her dressing room.
"Leslie Grantham was a disgusting, creepy sex pest," she said.
"He suddenly appeared in my trailer door. He didn’t knock, he just walked in and said something about fancying me. It was pretty graphic and I thought, 'Oh f**k’.”
Arabella - also known for the ‘does my bum look big in this?’ sketches in The Fast Show, said that she found the experience “frightening” - and that she “could tell that he had something different in his brain – he was definitely a proper predator.”
Thankfully a crew member arrived moments later with a reason for her to return to set, something she believes was done intentionally to prevent any harm coming to her.
Arabella, who is joining Coronation Street for a short stint, added to The Sun : “I think they had eyes on Grantham all the time to make sure that things were avoided.
“I now know that he threw his weight around on that show and I gather many sexual advances were made to women in the crew.”
Grantham’s character famously returned from the dead in 2003, but he was killed off once and for all the following year after he was caught on webcam pleasuring himself and sucking his finger.
He believed he was speaking to a woman called Amanda, but it was an undercover reporter and the erotic photos went viral.
The reporter also claimed he insulted several of his EastEnders cast mates, including Shane Richie, Wendy Richard, Kim Medcalf and Jessie Wallace, and the cast reportedly went on strike until he was disciplined.
Further claims then emerged that he had exposed himself on webcam to two other women, one of whom alleged he had dressed up as Captain Hook and masturbated.
He died in 2018 from lung cancer, he was 71.
