Ross Kemp says he will not be in EastEnders live episode after pub explosion

Ross Kemp has said he will not be in the live EastEnders 40th anniversary episode as he has stopped filming the soap.

The actor, who plays Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap, returned to celebrate four decades of the long-running drama after a near 10-year absence.

The latest instalment also saw Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) revealed as the assailant who attacked her former daughter-in-law Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) on Christmas Day.

On ITV’s This Morning, a clip was shown of Grant and Bianca arguing in the street shortly after the fire.

Kemp told the show that an “unlikely friendship is forged at that point” between Bianca and Grant as they “pal up” in an “unlikely coupling”.

Asked if he would be in Thursday’s live episode, he said: “I’m not doing the live, I’m no longer there, I’ve departed – not in a hearse, I hasten to add.”

It is believed he will still be seen on screen in the soap, but has stopped filming his episodes.

EastEnders: 40 Years On The Square included interviews with Pam St Clement (Pat Butcher) and Taylforth among others.

Tuesday’s episode also saw Grant interrupt his troubled brother Phil (Steve McFadden) as he seemed about to take his own life with a gun after his depression and psychosis symptoms spiral.

The east London-set soap began on February 19 1985.

Thursday’s episode will show viewers if their votes mean Diane Parish’s character, Denise Fox, reunites with her estranged husband Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) or her secret lover Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara).

Kemp began on the soap in 1990, and his previous appearance in 2016 marked his on-screen mother Dame Barbara Windsor’s final episode as Peggy Mitchell.

– Samaritans are available on 116 123 or at samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ or email [email protected].