- Gregory Mantel
Infobox EastEnders character
character_name=Gregory Mantel
actor_name=Pavel Douglas
years=1988-1989
first=16 June 1988
last=23 February 1989
dob=
status=
occupation= Gangster
family=Gregory Mantel was a
fictional character in the popularBBC soap opera "EastEnders ". He was played by actorPavel Douglas .Mantel was a well-spoken, sharp-suited gangster, an employee of The Firm.
He was introduced in 1988, as a character claiming to be from "Walford Investments", who tried to persuade
James Willmott-Brown to let him buy into The Dagmar. When Willmott-Brown refused, he soon found that his suppliers were refusing to do business with him. The bar's business suffered dramatically as a result.The Firm had financially ruined The Dagmar for the purpose of drawing in its custom for their own wine bar, Strokes, which was in fact a front for illegal gambling reluctantly run by
Den Watts . Den later used his Firm connections to arrange for The Dagmar to be firebombed, which angered Mantel and The Firm's bosses, the unseen Mr. Vinnicombe and Jack Dalton.Mantel and Vinnicombe were good friends, and Mantel reported directly to him.
Mantel later established the Portakabin office on
Albert Square as a base of operations for "Walford Investments".Mantel was also responsible for leading the operation to kill Den, after it was thought that he had grassed up The Firm for the Dagmar fire.
Gregory was an intelligent man, and was able to work out the connection between Den and
Michelle Fowler , and that she might be the key to finding him. He ordered that Michelle be tailed, and she was followed to theWalford canal. Mantel then co-ordinated the assassination via a walkie-talkie.Mantel gave the order to shoot Den, but it later transpired that the attempt was unsuccessful as Den returned to Walford in 2003.
Pavel Douglas and Andy Burden co-wrote "I Shot Dirty Den", a one man theatre show covering Gregory Mantel's role in Eastenders and a fictitious storyline for his return. It performed in 2008 at The
Rondo Theatre and then atEdinburgh Fringe Festival Gregory Mantel, the character, is not the American talk show host, Gregory Mantell (the host of the tv program, "The Gregory Mantell Show.")
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