Ross Kemp says he’d “think twice” but won’t rule out EastEnders return

“The guiding rule of Mr Kemp has been never say never – think twice, but never say never!”

By James Hibbs

Published: Friday, 14 April 2023 at 12:00 am

Ross Kemp is certainly keeping busy, with a return to acting in Channel 5 thriller Blindspot and another trip underwater for Sky History series Deep Sea Treasure Hunter both airing this year.

However, one role fans will always want to know if Kemp is returning to is EastEnders‘ Grant Mitchell, a part he last played for a stint in 2016.

Speaking exclusively with RadioTimes.com, Kemp was asked whether he would want to return to the role, to which he said: “The guiding rule of Mr Kemp has been never say never – think twice, but never say never!

“I really enjoyed going back to acting again. It wasn’t something I was expecting to happen. It came about really quickly. I was no more or less nervous than the first time I jumped in the water again.

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Ross Kemp as Grant Mitchell in EastEnders.
BBC

“There’s just different levels. The expectation of me as an actor… there’ll be a lot of people that will want to shoot me down in flames, which I didn’t have the first time I walked onto the set of EastEnders in 1989.

“Barbara [Windsor] had it, certainly. She had it far more than I’ll ever have it with Blindspot.”

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Kemp continued: “But there is probably an expectation from people who can remember that far back to when I was acting last. You know, ‘Will he be as good as he was playing Grant?’

“I think I’d be hard pressed to be any worse than I was with the experiences that I’ve had. I think I’m a far more experienced human being, hopefully a kinder person and probably not the arrogant little twit I was in 1989.”

Kemp was speaking with RadioTimes.com about his new series Deep Sea Treasure Hunter, and he recalled the moment when he was “starved of oxygen” while filming.

He said: “You’ve been starved of oxygen, because you’ve been breathing in so much CO2, so you can feel your lungs – the oxygen capillaries, the alveoli – filling up with oxygen. So that’s a weird feeling.”