Ross Kemp is "wetting himself" at the thought of reprising his role as bad boy Grant Mitchell in ‘EastEnders’ this year.
The 51-year-old actor will return to the long-running soap for three weeks later this summer but has admitted he’s riddled with nerves about rejoining the programme after spending the last few years working on hard hitting documentaries.
Ross – who made a brief return in 2006 following his official departure in 1999 – said: "I’m panicking about everything. About whether I’ve lost the ability to learn all the lines.
"About whether I can cope with it all. The middle-class ethics I was brought up with. I worry about letting people down, letting myself down. That’s my biggest fear.
"It’s going to be like going back to sixth form. I’ve had sniper rounds go through the wall behind me, and I am quite cool under fire. I’m good at dealing with things like that. But I’m wetting myself at the thought of going back to ‘EastEnders’."
But the investigative journalist seemingly had no choice but to return to the soap as Dame Barbara Windsor, who plays his on-screen mother Peggy Mitchell, told him he had to be there for her forthcoming emotional departure scenes.
He told the Radio Times magazine: "It’s impossible to say no to Barbara."
The whole Mitchell clan – including Phil (Steve McFadden), mega-bitch Sam (Danniella Westbrook) and Grant – will rally around the matriarch as she loses her battle with cancer.
Ross Kemp is ‘wetting himself’ at EastEnders return
