EastEnders legend Ross Kemp refuses to rule out return

South Wales Argus

2 days ago

The 60-year-old returned to EastEnders as Grant Mitchell after almost 10 years away earlier this year.
His character arrived back on the Square to help his brother Phil with his mental health problems.
Grant recently left Walford again for his home in Portugal.
🏆🥳 WINNER! 🥳🏆 What a year and what an honour to be crowned Best British Soap at The British @SoapAwards 2025 by the people who matter the most - YOU! ❤️ Thank you to everyone who voted! Lots of love, your #EastEnders family. #TheBritishSoapAwards @BBC @BBCOne @BBCiPlayer pic.twitter.com/w5rjekdLCV — BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) May 31, 2025
Speaking on Loose Women, Kemp said he owes the BBC soap 'a great debt' for giving him a career in television.
Asked whether he would return to the role of Grant again, Kemp said: 'You just don't know, do you? You don't know what's in the minds of the people who work on it.
'I've also (always) known that without it, I wouldn't have had the career that I've had, I've always owed it a great debt and it was very good to me, and hopefully I was good to it, and why not keep it that way?
'I've always believed that you should leave doors swinging rather than shut them.'
Kemp, who went on to produce a number of documentaries since first leaving EastEnders in 1999 including Ross Kemp On Gangs, Ross Kemp In Afghanistan and Ross Kemp: Extreme World, said he enjoyed returning to the soap.
He explained: 'It was so wonderful to jump into Grant's leather jacket again, which I can still get in.
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'It's a family, it's an ongoing thing, and I'm talking about the past, and they're really busy doing their own thing, I just parachute in, and I exit generally by the tube station.
'But they've got to be welcoming, because it's like a high-speed train, you've got to jump on it at the right time or you miss it.
'So luckily, Steve McFadden (who plays Phil), and Paul Bradley (who plays Nigel Bates), and Letitia (Dean, who plays Sharon Watts) opened the door for me, and it was like going back home, and it was great.'
Are Ross Kemp and Steve McFadden friends?
Their brotherly love on-screen may have been tested over the years, but in real life Kemp and actor McFadden share a close relationship.
'We've [McFadden and I] always remained friends, but, yeah, we are more in touch since I've gone back for the 40th anniversary,' Kemp told The Mirror earlier this year.
'Steve is a fine actor and I don't think soap actors get recognised for how good they are.'
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Kemp began on the soap in 1990, and his previous appearance prior to his 2025 return, in 2016, marked his on-screen mother Dame Barbara Windsor's final episode as Peggy Mitchell.
Where does Ross Kemp live?
Kemp lives in the picturesque Thames-side village of Cookham in Berkshire.
He is well known within the community and has openly spoken about how he frequently visits nearby Marlow's restaurants.