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ROSS KEMP on his return to acting in a surveillance thriller

- CAREN CLARK

BLINDSPOT

TUE-FRI, 9PM, CHANNEL 5 DRAMA  

In his hard-hitting documentaries, Ross Kemp has gamely placed himself in countless sticky situations. So TV Times is surprised when he admits that his latest project – which sees him flex his acting muscles after a gap of several years – has left him jittery!

‘If you’d said, “You’ve got to go into a prison or start acting again,” I’d probably go, “I’ll take the prison!”’ chuckles Ross, as we join him at Channel 5’s London HQ to chat about his new thriller Blindspot. ‘It was daunting; I was nervous!’

The four-part series – which is being shown across consecutive nights this week – sees the former EastEnders favourite play enigmatic, jaded detective Tony Warden, who is drawn into a complex case involving spirited wheelchair user Hannah Quinn (rising star Beth Alsbury, who uses the pronouns they/them; see our interview, opposite page).

While working in a CCTV operations centre, Hannah thinks she has spotted a man who she saw commit a murder a year before, and, terrifyingly, after he takes a woman into an alleyway that is a blind spot, only he reappears. But when Hannah informs Tony that she has witnessed another crime, will he believe her?

Here, Ross, 58, tells us more…

Despite the nerves, have you enjoyed returning to drama?