I’ve been threatened and shot at…but what keeps me awake at night is not being around for my kids, says Ross Kemp
HE has survived being shot at by the Taliban and threatened at gunpoint in Papua New Guinea.
But it isn’t the first time good fortune has smiled upon Ross Kemp, who became a household name as Grant Mitchell in EastEnders in the Nineties.
The actor-turned-documentary maker has recalled some of his most jaw-dropping experiences in his new book, Take Nothing For Granted: Tales From An Unexpected Life, often revealing how good humour and good luck has helped him get back to his loved ones.
The autobiography reveals how he went from drama school and being a new romantic to ending up in Walford before making hard-hitting documentaries.
Ross looked at diaries from his filming trips and dug deep to recall enough anecdotes from his career that would easily fill another book — if he can find the time to write it.
Coping with the horrors he’s experienced has become the norm for Ross, who says that laughter is the key to keeping sane.
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He says: “The great thing is the dark sense of humour that comes with being someone who operates in those kinds of environments.
“We also use trauma risk management which means sitting down and talking through trauma with your colleagues.
“That can be being shot at, you can be in a road traffic accident or your son has been killed by drug dealers.
“What keeps me up now isn’t necessarily those events, it’s worrying about not being around for my kids.”
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‘If I wanted sympathy I don’t think I’d get much’
Family life is clearly what keeps Ross grounded, after he married lawyer Renee O’Brien in 2012.
The pair have a son, Leo, and twin daughters, as well as Ross’s first son Oliver from a previous relationship.
Ross says: “I don’t expect sympathy. You can’t come back and moan about the conditions in a prison when she has been doing two jobs — one being a mum and the other being a lawyer.
“If I wanted sympathy and looked for it I don’t think I would get very much — so there is no point in asking.
“Also, when you get critiqued for bringing the wrong socks by your twin daughters, it’s like, OK . . .
“I say it in the book, you think my job is hard but the hardest job you will ever do is being a parent.
“There is no road map — nothing is every perfectly right.
“You can read all the books in the world but your child will not be the one that is in that book.”
Ross has made more than 120 documentaries to date, and his enthusiasm shows no sign of abating.
He has been filming a Channel 5 series uncovering life inside some of South America’s toughest prisons, as well as working on a Sky History show about organised crime.
Ross has even added diving to his impressive career repertoire to make Sky History series Deep Sea Treasure Hunter.
In the four-parter, which was screened earlier this year, Ross was seen diving in coastlines around the UK, including the site where Tudor Navy ship The Mary Rose was excavated in 1982.
Alongside his documentaries, he also hosts hit BBC One quiz Bridge Of Lies.
Ross explains: “I was supposed to be going to Ecuador just before the state of emergency was called and I was sitting in a hotel in Bogota (the capital of Colombia) for three days wondering what was going to happen.
“And then we decided the right thing to do was go home.
“Since then, I have shot 38 episodes of Bridge Of Lies.
“I came home from Colombia, I had five days in Cornwall with the family and then I flew up to Glasgow and did Bridge Of Lies — and the new Saturday night celebrity special.
“I have always believed it is waste if you don’t fill your days.
“That is how I was brought up — to have that work ethic.”
But Ross could not have predicted what he would achieve during his varied career.
And growing up in Essex, he admits he had no idea what he would go on to do.
He says with a laugh: “If I met the arrogant little twit, the 23-year-old Ross Kemp, I would take him to one side and have a stern word with him now.
";I don’t think I could have made those films as a young lad coming out of drama school,
“I didn’t know my a* from my elbow. Hopefully I have now navigated my a* and my elbow and now I know where they are.”
Ross is now best known for his dangerous TV exploits, including On Gangs and Extreme World, both made for Sky.
But his career began in EastEnders as hardman Grant, the son of Peggy Mitchell who was played by his good friend, the late Dame Barbara Windsor.
Following her death in December 2020 aged 83, Ross was invited by Barbara’s widower Scott Mitchell to give a eulogy at her funeral.
It is a moment he recounts in his book.
Ross also made a return to Albert Square in Barbara’s honour, two years after she quit her role in the soap following her Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2014, to film Peggy’s funeral.
But would he ever consider returning to Walford?
‘I don’t know if I could do EastEnders now’
He says: “I will never say never. I was lucky when I went back because my scenes were with Tish (Letitia Dean, who plays Sharon Watts) and Steve (McFadden, AKA Grant’s brother Phil) who are great actors.
“They were very accommodating. And those guys work so hard.
“I don’t know if I could do it now because of the speed of the work.”
Ross is now juggling a jam-packed schedule of sold-out book signings, being a parent and TV projects.
But he says shining a light on the stories that matter, from filming drug addicts in Kenya to spending time on the front line with British troops, is what inspires him to keep going.
Recalling his time working with the Army, Ross says: “I would take a nod from one of those guys over any award.
“As you get older you change your mind about what opinions people have of you.
“You care less about what other people think and more about what your friends and family think.
“People often say my team and I are brave because of the places we go to, but I remind them that we get the chance to come home, whereas the people we are filming with have to remain.
“I always try to bear in mind that we are making films about human beings and we are all human beings no matter where we live.
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“If we curate better understanding through our documentaries then hopefully there will be less conflict.”
- Take Nothing For Granted by Ross Kemp is out now, published in hardback by Seven Dials priced £20.
