Ross Kemp is returning to acting for the first time in seven years.
Ross Kemp is returning to acting for the first time in seven years
The 58-year-old actor is best known for playing EastEnders' Grant Mitchell - who he last portrayed in 2016 - but the hardman character may not be too impressed to discover Ross has landed a new role as a police officer.
He will appear in Channel 5 drama 'Blindspot' as Police Detective Tony Warden, and he was "more nervous" that when he made his Albert Square debut.
Ross said: "My first day on set [at 'Blindspot'] was Saturday evening and I was just as nervous as I was, in fact more nervous, than when I first walked on to the set of 'EastEnders' in 1989.
"I was extremely nervous and didn’t sleep very much the night before.
"I was 24/25 then, I was confident and cocky and now I’m a wiser and older man.
"I was extremely nervous and didn’t sleep very much the night before."
Ross admits his new role is "quite a leap" in his acting career.
He added to The Sun newspaper's TV Biz column: "It is a wonderful cast but working with actors again has been quite a leap for me and I know I’m a very lucky man.
"For me going back to acting is so important.
"It is the first time in 15 years apart from going back to 'EastEnders' for Barbara leaving."
Ross briefly returned to 'EastEnders' in 2016, in scenes to coincide with Dame Barbara Windsor's exit as Peggy Mitchell, the mother of his character Grant.
The star initially played Grant from 1990 to 1999, before returning again in 2005 and in 2006, and then in 2016.
In 'Blindspot', newcomer Beth Alsbury will play disabled woman Hannah who thinks she has seen the prelude to a murder while looking into CCTV on a rough estate.
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