Ross Kemp: Barbara Windsor 'Ambush' Tempted Me Back To EastEnders

Ross Kemp was persuaded to return to EastEnders after co-star Dame Barbara Windsor “ambushed” him.

Copyright [Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock]

The 51-year-old actor is set to return to the BBC One soap as Grant Mitchell, son of Barbara’s alter-ego Peggy Mitchell, and has admitted the soap veteran helped convince him to return to Albert Square after they shared a “very nice lunch”.

Speaking on This Morning, he said: “I got ambushed by Barbara.

"I was away on a family holiday and I get, ‘Darling, are you going to be there this weekend? I might just drop in.’

Copyright [BBC]

"I said, 'Mallorca? You might just drop in to Mallorca?’

"We had a very nice lunch, she told me that she wanted to leave the show - she has been a loyal servant for many, many years and we started going back and forth.”

While the star is easily recognisable as Grant in the UK - a role he last played in 2006 - he was surprised to be spotted while filming a documentary in Pakistan.

Copyright [BBC]

He added: “The bizarrest one that ever happened to me, I was interviewing a guy … in a no-go area in Karachi [Pakistan] he was a well wanted villain at the time … but on the way out I went past a tuk-tuk … and a woman in full headgear, you couldn’t see her face at all, in the brightest Brummie accent [said], 'Are you Grant Mitchell?’

”[It came] out of nowhere, which made us all laugh a bit, kind of lightened the effect of the sniper round!“