Oh no. He really was an icon of the 1970s British TV. Minder was created as vehicle for him following the success of The Sweeney, but he was unexpectedly overshadowed by George Cole. He was an incredibly charismatic man
Perhaps those who thought he was the bees knees need to read up ( he did admit to punching her on at least two occasions) Dennis Waterman has been accused of trivialising domestic violence after he described hitting his former wife Rula Lenska but said she was not "a beaten wife”
Oh yes I'd forgotten about that. I didn't think he was the bees knees, I just enjoyed some of the programmes. Not wishing to speak ill of the dead, my sister met him once and said he was unpleasant.
I did not realise that Dennis, as well as Sean, slapped their wives. Charming.
Many many years ago I saw Dennis walking around the back streets of London, W1. We were fairly close on the pavement but I never said a word and neither did he. He was probably grateful to get some space for once.