Ross Kemp teases EastEnders return – admitting ‘I owe it so much and am unemployed now!’
Watch the video of Ross' exclusive chat with The Sun's TV Mag
ROSS Kemp has teased a return to EastEnders – admitting ‘I owe it so much and I’m unemployed now!’
The 59-year-old actor played hardman Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap from 1990 to 1999 and then again from 2005 to 2006.
He last made an appearance in EastEnders in 2016, yet fans of the soap are still desperate for him to return once again.
Despite a wide-ranging career since he left the show – including hard hitting documentaries and his relatively new role as a quiz show host on Bridge of Lies – Ross hasn’t totally closed the door on returning to EastEnders at some point.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun’s TV Mag, Ross said: “If you look at what year it was, it was 89 to 99 Which is quite a long time ago.
“And for the last 25-30 years, I’ve been making documentaries.
“I had gone back and I went back specifically for Barbara’s [Windor’s] leaving storyline because she asked me, and she was a very dear friend of mine.
“But, you know, I owe EastEnders, a lot. And I’m not one of those people that would ever try to forget that, not that I would probably ever be able to.
“But I wouldn’t want to either, you know, it was a platform that helped me travel the world and meet some of the most bizarre and most interesting, and occasionally some of the most dangerous people that exist in it, and on it!”
Asked if he would return, he replied: “I would never, ever say no to that. Why would I?
“And I don’t think I’ve ever said no to most things that I’ve been offered to do. You would be cutting your nose off to spite your face to say no.
“And also it would look unkind, I think. You know, as I say, I owe it so much.”
Ross explained how the TV landscape has changed since he was on the show, with some of his episodes getting over 25 million viewers.
Now, soaps numbers are much lower due to on-demand and streaming services, but in turn, the projects actors are willing to do has changed along with that.
He explained: “So the way we watch television, the way we interact with television is changing. And also, the way that we look at the people that work in it is changing because, you know, A listers from Hollywood never used to do sofa commercials, right?
“Or, you know, real actors didn’t work in soaps, or real actors didn’t do game shows.
LUCKY MAN
“Well, I don’t care whether anyone describes me as a real actor or not, I’m certainly not a Hollywood A-lister.
“But now I’m able, last year I did a drama for Channel Five, I was 10 weeks away in Budapest, I did a game show that I absolutely love doing for the BBC and I made documentaries, six documentaries around the world. So, how lucky am I?”
But he joked: “I’m now unemployed though, so if you’ve got any work, could you push it my way?”
Ross is currently on screen with a new series of Bridge of Lies, which he has hosted since 2022.
GAME ON
The third series once again sees a group of contestants try to make it across the bridge to try and win a nice jackpot of cash.
Speaking about the show, Ross said: “[I’m] really excited. It’s not something that I thought I’d ever be doing. I absolutely love it, I really enjoy it.
“And, you know, what I love about it, I love doing Saturday night specials for the celebs, and they’ve all been really warm and lovely, but it is great interacting with the public when I’m not talking about misery.
“Because that’s generally what I do when I’m talking to members of the public, whether it be people from the UK, or people from South America or wherever else.
“And, you know, we had the biggest win we’ve had so in an afternoon show. And think it was like, it’s one of the most watched new game shows out there, if not the most. So that was also rewarding.”
