It’s been nearly a decade since we last saw EastEnders’ Grant Mitchell in Walford, but now Ross Kemp is back – albeit briefly – in the role that made him a household name.
Ross joined the cast of the BBC soap as the hard man back in 1990 and his character quickly established himself as a key player.
Grant kept viewers hooked with his tempestuous marriage to Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and his exposure of her affair with his brother Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), which fans dubbed ‘Sharongate’.
But prior to being cast in EastEnders, Ross had scored his first screen role on another soap, playing the character of Graham Lodsworth in 30+ episodes of Emmerdale from 1986 to 1987.
He’d also had guest roles in the likes of London’s Burning and Birds of a Feather.
After leaving EastEnders in 1999, Ross returned to being a jobbing actor, with leading both casts of ITV dramas In Defence and Without Motive in 2000.
But arguably his biggest gig following his soap exit came the following year, when he returned to the BBC with military drama Ultimate Force.
The show ran for four series from 2001 to 2008, and Ross was the only cast member to appear in every episode.
In Ultimate Force, he also shared the screen with future EastEnders star Heather Peace, who is now known for her role as Walford’s Eve Unwin.
It was during this time that Ross also married his partner – then-editor of The Sun Rebekah Wade (now Rebekan Brooks). The couple were together for seven years until they divorced in 2009.
Ross went on to have a relationship with make-up artist Nicola Coleman, and the couple welcomed a son in 2010.
After he and Nicola split, Ross married his now-wife Renee O’Brien in 2012, and they went on to have three children together – Leo, born in 2015, and twins Ava and Kitty, born in 2017.
Speaking about Renee in a 2022 interview, he told MailOnline: ‘Renee’s pretty practical, she’s Australian, she’s a lawyer, she’s very straight.
‘She’d never seen EastEnders. She had no idea I was Grant Mitchell or anything like that and she didn’t really understand that I was doing documentaries.’
He also revealed that their relationship didn’t get off to the smoothest start, saying: ‘I’d just come back from Afghanistan when I first met her and I generally behaved quite badly the first four or five weeks.
‘I’ve changed now, obviously, but I used to go on a bit of a bender with some of the guys, and she sort of straightened me out.’
Grant originally appeared in EastEnders between 1990 and 1999 (Picture: BBC)
Ross with his on-screen brother Steve McFadden, who plays Phil Mitchell (Picture: Ross Kemp/Instagram)
Career-wise, Ross is now a celebrated documentary maker, winning a Bafta in 2006 for his series Ross Kemp on Gangs.
His other investigative work has seen him travel to the likes of Afganistan and the Amazon, and he’s also tackled a wide range of topics in series like Ross Kemp: The Fight Against ISIS, Ross Kemp: On the NHS Frontline, Ross Kemp in Search of Pirates and Britain’s Tiger Kings – On The Trail With Ross Kemp.
Since 2022, he has also hosted popular quiz show Bridge of Lies for the BBC.
Ross’ two worlds will collide next week when he fronts an EastEnders documentary to celebrate the soap’s 40th anniversary, which will examine the impact it has had on Britain.
Ross, who has made previous returns to EastEnders as Grant in 2005 and 2016, said: ‘During the making of it, I was constantly reminded of the impact EastEnders has, not only on the cast and everyone that works on the show, but also on the audience, as well as the effect it has had culturally in the United Kingdom.
‘It also gave me a wonderful opportunity to take a trip down memory lane with some of my dear friends – old and new – and celebrate this special anniversary, it was an absolute honour.’
