Since leaving his role as hard-man Grant Mitchell in Eastenders back in 1999, Ross Kemp has gone on to create shocking and thought-provoking documentaries from some of the most dangerous places around the world.
Speaking to Reader’s Digest in the February issue, Kemp talks about his new series, Extreme World, which sees him travel around the world, get into more dangerous situations and meet all kinds of people.
Talking about the scariest thing to have happened to him (so far), he says: “I remember being in a bomb-making factory with the al-Quds brigade of [the Palestinian] Islamic Jihad. The sound man bumped into a Katyusha rocket, which hit the next Katyusha rocket, which hit the next – bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing – in a room not bigger than this, where they were making mortars in the sink. If those things had gone off, we’d have all gone to hell. But I wasn’t really worried about that. I was worried about the Israeli drone that was no doubt circling us and had followed us all the way from Erez terminal. I was more worried about the white light [bomb] that was going to drop from the sky.”
When asked why he continues to do it, despite getting into these life-threatening situations, he reasons: “I love travelling. I love the world. I think human beings are fascinating – and there are some things that link us all.”
Having seen so many emotionally scarring things – such as war, child abduction and child prostitution – amazingly, he’s never had and therapy. However, he’d gladly go if he needed to.
“I’d never rule that out. I don’t think there’s anything weak in going to see somebody to seek help. If it makes your life better, then it’s worth doing. I’m a bit like a ship – you collect more barnacles the more you see. I think when I was younger I was a bit more flippant with it mentally. But the older I get…”
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Posted by Don Brown.