![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_EastEnders.jpg\")
Ross, Dame Barbara Windsor and Steve McFadden played the formidable Mitchell trio on EastEnders(Image: PA)<\/p>\nEastEnders legend Ross Kemp played Grant Mitchell for more than 1,000 episodes but reveals he ‘couldn’t stay’ on set and has become a better person since leaving<\/p>\n
14:00, 21 Sep 2025Updated 14:16, 21 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
Ross, Dame Barbara Windsor and Steve McFadden played the formidable Mitchell trio on EastEnders(Image: PA)<\/p>\n
While many soap stars often dismiss their roots when they leave a role and go on to bigger things, EastEnders<\/a>\u2019 Ross Kemp has never forgotten where he came from. In an exclusive chat, Ross, 61, reflects on his time playing Grant Mitchell on the BBC<\/a> soap, how Barbara Windsor, who played his on-screen mum Peggy<\/a>, remains a figurehead five years after her death, and what\u2019s it like being a dad to young kids in his sixties.<\/p>\n He also opens up about returning to to Albert Square this year for the 40th anniversary documentary, saying: “I think it was a good look back on 40 years of British culture. I was very honoured to [be involved] in a number of really big Christmas<\/a> Day episodes back in the day when we were getting 25 million viewers.”<\/p>\n Hi Ross, how much have things changed in those 40 years of the show?<\/p>\n It\u2019s really showed a changing Britain, and how things which were considered outrageous in the 80s and 90s have become acceptable and commonplace, as they should be. Like gay and lesbian relationships, exposing sexual violence in the home \u2013 people wouldn\u2019t show domestic violence on TV in the 60s, 70s, you know? I think EastEnders in particular was quite groundbreaking \u2013 it still is.<\/p>\n You worked really closely with the late Barbara Windsor, were you close?<\/p>\n Oh, Barbara\u2019s never far away. I\u2019ve got a picture of her in my office and I speak to Scott [Mitchell], her widower, on a pretty frequent basis. I had a very close relationship with her. I wrote her a eulogy and spoke it at her funeral. She was a very special person. And it\u2019s interesting that there\u2019s a lot of people who often fade away. She doesn\u2019t seem to have faded away that much, does she? That\u2019s testament to how many years that she was in the public eye \u2013 and she always had time for the public.<\/p>\n Nowadays, we\u2019re more likely to see you hosting a gritty documentary \u2013 what made you take that leap?<\/p>\n I think looking back, I couldn\u2019t have stayed at being an actor. I\u2019d spent 10 years at Elstree Studios, and had a brilliant time, but I wanted to go and see the world<\/a>. I didn\u2019t want to necessarily go and see it in the way that I saw it, but be careful what you wish for! I think I\u2019m a better person for, you know, seeing some of the things that go on around the world.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always been very open about the fact that I don\u2019t think I\u2019d have got a documentary commission if it hadn\u2019t been for the popularity of Grant Mitchell. What happened after that was down to me as Ross Kemp, to make it as good a documentary as I possibly could. I\u2019ve won more soap awards over anything else, but I\u2019ve won a few documentary awards that I\u2019m very proud of. I\u2019m proud of the team that I work with \u2013 they\u2019ve become close friends over the years.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next for you then, career-wise?<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to do a bit more acting, to be honest. It\u2019s always the same, so last year I did two docs, a game show and I did EastEnders. You know, variety is the spice of life. I\u2019m fortunate to be able to move between genres and make programmes about subjects that I find interesting.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t rule out anything. I think there are some people who do soaps and then they leave them and want to pretend they were never in them because they find themselves successful in other places. That\u2019s their decision and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that at all. WhatI will say is, if I\u2019ve got the opportunity to act in something I think is good and they want me, I\u2019ll take the job.<\/p>\n Strictly is back on our screens \u2013 could we ever see you in fake tan and sequins?!<\/p>\n No, not really. I don\u2019t think you should ever say no. But right now no, because I\u2019m really busy. I\u2019m doing a five-part documentary. I\u2019ve just done 14 days straight. So, I\u2019ve got enough on my plate right now. I love watching Strictly \u2013 but whether I want to be in it, I don\u2019t know\u2026<\/p>\n You\u2019re a busy parent of three these days \u2013 did you always see yourself as a dad?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve got a young family, which wasn\u2019t the way I was planning on spending my sixties \u2013 running around doing the school run! But that\u2019s just the way life has crumbled for me. If you\u2019d said to me at 30 that I\u2019d have three kids under 11 in my early sixties, I\u2019d have gone, \u201cNo, that\u2019s not happening!\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019re currently working with the Pay Your Pension Some Attention campaign \u2013 so have you been giving your children some financial advice?<\/p>\n I\u2019m using a bit of my tax-free money from my pension to help support my kids, in education and to do the things they want to do. I\u2019m actually not spending it on me \u2013 that\u2019s not me laying on a beach on holiday in the Bahamas. It\u2019s me getting up early, getting them in the car, getting the porridge inside them and getting them to school. So, I\u2019m using a bit of my pension already to support them.<\/p>\n Ross Kemp is currently fronting the latest Pay Your Pension Some Attention campaign. The TV star is urging the nation to engage with their retirement plans with three simple steps. To get started, visit pensionattention.co.uk<\/p>\n * Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, YouTube<\/a> and Threads<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1_509868EastEnders.jpg\")
Ross was known to millions of soap viewers at hardman Grant Mitchell(Image: BBC\/Jack Barnes\/Kieron McCarron)<\/p>\n![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2_Ross-Kemp-and-Barbara-Windsor.jpg\")
Ross was very close to his late co-star Barabara Windsor(Image: Internet Unknown)<\/p>\n![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2_Screenshot-2025-05-07-at-140726JPG.jpg\")
Ross has made a name for himself as a respected documentary maker(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n