Dirty Den does a Becks

Fighting to save his career following sordid allegations of Internet sex, you would have thought Leslie Grantham would keep a low profile.

But setting off for work yesterday, the EastEnders favourite made a determined effort to show all was well on the home front.

The 57-year-old who plays Dirty Den in the BBC soap, made a point of pausing to give his actress wife Jane Laurie a peck on the cheek.

To onlookers, including photographers, the show of togetherness outside their £650,000 Wimbledon home appeared to be worthy of recent performances by Victoria Beckham and Leslie Ash.

Kissing her husband of 23 years, the mother of his three children appeared unperturbed by allegations that he sent naked images of himself during an online chat with a woman known only as Amanda.

Grantham, who returned to East-Enders after a 14-year gap last year, is said to have used a webcam while describing his sexual fantasies to the woman.

A Sunday newspaper investigation also accuses him of trying to arrange to meet the woman for sex.

In the e-mails, it is also said he branded half the cast of the soap opera 'w*****s' and called Jessie Wallace, who plays Kat Slater, a 'vile dog'.

Grantham is said to have transmitted-the material while in his EastEnders dressing room at the BBC's E l s t r e e s t u d i o s i n Hertfordshire.

It is not the first time the actor, who was jailed in the 1960s for murdering a German taxi driver, has embarrassed his BBC bosses.

In March, a woman claimed she was his mistress and described how he would call her four times a day to talk about sex.

BBC chiefs have announced they are planning to investigate this latest matter. It is believed EastEnders producer Louise Berridge will take advice f r o m her boss Mal Young about what to do later this week.

Sources on the set say they believe Grantham will get a slap on the wrist, but will not be sacked. 'He is too popular and too expensive,' said one insider. 'He has brought back thousands of fans. He also recently signed a two- year deal and it would cost us more than £300,000 to sack him. We are just hoping that this will all blow over.'

While his wife may have signalled she is standing by him - just as Victoria Beckham and Leslie Ash have denied allegations of marital difficulties - Grantham got a cool reception from his colleagues on set yesterday afternoon.

'There were not many people in but everyone who was there gave Leslie the cold shoulder,' said the source.

'Everyone has been working really hard to restore the reputation of EastEnders' cast members after a bad few years and now Leslie comes along, behaves really badly and slags them all off. There is a lot of anger on set.'