Ross Kemp on TV show character who will follow him until he dies

06 October 2023 , 17:32

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Ross Kemp on TV show character who will follow him until he dies

Ross Kemp has made more than 120 gritty films about war-torn nations, prisons and gangs, but Ross Kemp fears he will always be best known for his role as Grant in EastEnders.

The 59-year-old actor became famous in the 1990s playing Grant Mitchell, who became the landlord of the Queen Vic. Since 2004, he has also established himself as a documentary maker, in 2007 winning a best factual series BAFTA for Ross Kemp on Gangs.

But, in his book, Take Nothing For Granted, he tells how he still lives in the shadow of Grant. He said: “I made my peace with what happens when you play a role that lands as loudly as Grant Mitchell did a long time ago. For a big chunk of people, I am him. It doesn’t matter what I do. And there are plenty of worse things you could be remembered for.”

(PA)

He also believes it could be an advantage, persuading people to watch his documentaries, which also include Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, Ross Kemp in Search of Pirates, and Ross Kemp: The Fight Against ISIS.

He said: “In many ways I’m making films for the people I grew up with. They might not know they’re interested in the relationship between the caste system and globalisation in modern Mumbai, but if we can bring them to it through a film about the brothels in slums, presented by that Grant Mitchell bloke, then I am absolutely fine with that.”

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In the book, he admits at the height of his fame in the 1990s he treated some women as badly as his hardman soap character Grant might have done. He said: “I was immature and selfish and generally a bit of a twit.

"There are women who I knew when I was younger, especially, who I wish I could apologise to, because I know I didn’t treat them the way they deserved to be treated. If I met the younger me now, I’d be tempted to take him into a corner and give him some very strong life advice.”

In 2002, he married journalist Rebekah Wade. They divorced in 2009. In 2012, he wed Renee O’Brien. They have three children, and Kemp has another child with his ex-partner and former make-up artist Nicole Coleman.

Take Nothing For Granted: Tales from an Unexpected Life by Ross Kemp, is out now, published by Seven Dials.

Mark Jefferies