dirty den s demise seen by 14m more than 14 million people saw  dirty  den watts killed off on friday  marking eastenders  20th anniversary  according to unofficial figures.  den s death came 16 years after he was supposedly shot in 1989. but he came back to the show in september 2003. the audience for bbc one s one-hour special averaged 13.7 million and peaked at 14.2 million in the last 15 minutes  overnight figures showed. den died after being confronted by zoe  chrissie and sam in the queen vic.  if the ratings are confirmed  the episode will have given the soap its highest audience for a year. the overnight figures showed almost 60% of the viewing public tuned into eastenders between 2000 and 2100 gmt  leaving itv1 with about 13%.  we are very pleased with the figures   a bbc spokesman said.  it shows viewers have really enjoyed the story of den s demise.  the show s highest audience came at christmas 1986  when more than 30 million tuned in to see den  played by leslie grantham  hand divorce papers to wife angie.  two years later  24 million saw him apparently shot by a man with a bunch of daffodils by a canal. more than 16 million viewers watched his return in 2003. the show s ratings have since settled down to about 12 million per episode. grantham hit the headlines in may after a newspaper printed photographs of him apparently exposing himself via a webcam from his dressing room. he also allegedly insulted four co-stars. he apologised for his  deplorable actions  and  a moment s stupidity .