One Doctor Who star died virtually penniless after a sex scandal that rocked his TV career – and left his three children nothing in his will. Despite once pulling in more than 30million viewers at a time, actor Leslie Grantham died of cancer in 2018 and left almost nothing behind in his estate.

Leslie was best known for his role as Dirty Den in BBC soap EastEnders, but also appeared in sci-fi epic Doctor Who for two episodes back in 1984, in which he played Kiston. Leslie also played George East in Heartbeat, Estragon in Waiting for Godot and cop Philip Gates in The Uninvited. Despite his epic soap career, which saw Dirty Den revived from the dead in 2003 after being ‘killed off’ back in 1988, the soaring ratings couldn’t stop the scandal he was embroiled in when a newspaper printed lewd pictures of the star taken from a webcam in his EastEnders dressing room. He was pictured exposing and touching himself in front of an undercover reporter – and allegedly insulted several of his co-stars.

He said at the time: “I am wholeheartedly ashamed of my behaviour and feel that I have let down my colleagues, as well as my friends and family. In some small recompense I intend to make a donation to charity as a mark of my apology.” However, he insisted later that he was “set up”.

He was written out of EastEnders in 2005 and killed off for good. Despite landing further, smaller roles, Leslie is said to have run out of money when he died from lung cancer in June 2018 at the age of 71. He left behind three sons, including actor Daniel Laurie, who plays Reggie Jackson in Call the Midwife.

Leslie had been living in a friend’s spare room for years after his marriage to Jane Laurie collapsed in 2013, and had paid for a “no frills funeral” so his family didn’t have to cover the costs. His only assets were a small share in a company worth less than £23,000 and a small house in Bulgaria.

After “complex taxes and legal fees”, his sons were not left with much. A source told MailOnline: “Leslie suffered from really bad money troubles the past several years, and worrying about it did his health no good. In fact, the stress of his financial situation probably speeded up his death as he was so frail.”

They added that he “paid for the whole [funeral] and left specific instructions about what he wanted. An average funeral costs £4,000 and he made sure it was all sorted.”

The Mail also reported that Leslie was forced to take on pantomime roles in his later years to “make ends meet”.