Pictures have emerged of EastEnders icon Ross Kemp leaving the soap’s production base – ‘sealing’ his return. The actor, 60, played Walford hard man Grant Mitchell on the long-running BBC drama intermittently between 1990 and 2016. In September, amid speculation that he will be the next in a long line of names that are returning for the show’s 40th Anniversary celebrations, Ross teased that something could be on the cards.
![[Ross Kemp drives out of EastEnders' Elstree Studios 1]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SEI_231230568-ef98.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
In an interview on This Morning, presenter Alison Hammond asked the star: ‘Now I can’t let you go until we ask you about the EastEnders rumours. What is going on, are you going back for the 40th anniversary. Tell us what’s going on.’. Ross quipped: ‘I can tell you nothing.’.
![[Ross Kemp drives out of EastEnders' Elstree Studios]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SEI_231230580-89b3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
He later added: ‘I am very proud of the show celebrating 40 years and I wouldn’t have had a career, good or bad without it. ‘I absolutely love it and I still support it and I would if I had come from Coronation Street or Emmerdale, well I was in Emmerdale Farm briefly before but yeah, I am proud the show is celebrating the 40 years and I will continue to support it as long as I can.’.
![[Peggy, Grant and Phil Mitchell in EastEnders]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/PRI_71514364-f6ea.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
At the end of November, pictures showed him driving out of the soap’s Hertfordshire production base in a black car. Grant’s last stint arrive for the their mum Peggy’s (Barbara Windsor) final days and funeral, before discovering that Mark Fowler Jr (Ned Porteous) is his son.
![[Ross Kemp drives out of EastEnders' Elstree Studios]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SEI_231230567-ec69.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
