Those tuning into last night’s episode of EastEnders might have felt they’d wandered through a time portal after witnessing a fight between iconic duo the Mitchell brothers.
The latest instalment of the BBC soap featured the return of tough guy Grant, the former Albert Square resident played by Ross Kemp, who has returned sporadically since his exit in 1999. But this latest stint, which came amid a dementia storyline involving Grant’s friend Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley), had a deeper importance for the actor.
Kemp, 61, decided to return as he wanted to honour his father and his former on-screen mother Barbara Windsor, both of whom suffered from Alzheimer’s. Windsor died in December 2020, while Kemp’s father, John, died in October 2025.
“Returning came with a mixture of excitement and emotional pressure,” he said, adding that he “was nervous about letting people down”.
“I thought about Barbara a great deal while being back on set, particularly in the Old Vic, where we spent so much time together. The storyline was the main reason I wanted to come back, and I was delighted when [executive producer] Ben Wadey asked me to return.”
Kemp told The Sun: “I felt honoured to be part of something that has been handled so beautifully by EastEnders, alongside Steve McFadden, Paul Bradley, Karen Henthorn, and the rest of the cast.
Grant was back in Walford to help brother Phil (Steve McFadden) care for their old friend Nigel, but Grant was left furious that Phil had put him in a care home. The pair soon came to blows, with Grant shouting: “You’re no brother to me!”
This marked Kemp’s first appearance in EastEnders since the soap’s 40th anniversary in February 2025. Before that, he briefly reprised his role multiple times throughout 2016 to honour the death of his on-screen mother Peggy (Barbara Windsor).
He made his debut on the show in 1990 and was one of the most popular characters thanks to his marriages to Sharon (Letitia Dean) and Tiffany (Martine McCutcheon). He quit the soap in 1999 and returned sporadically in 2005 and 2006.
Kemp previously refused to rule out ever returning to the soap, saying that he owes the show “a great debt” for giving him a career in television.
“It was very good to me, and hopefully I was good to it, and why not keep it that way?” he said on ITV panel show Loose Women.
“I’ve always believed that you should leave doors swinging rather than shut them.”
