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.
Tuesday’s episode saw the Queen Vic explode when Sonia Fowler’s former partner Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) crashed his car into the Albert Square pub after being on the run following a murder, and kidnapping Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer).
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.
The presenter and actor, known for fronting documentaries such as Ross Kemp On Gangs, and Ross Kemp: Extreme World, presented the anniversary special programme which aired at the weekend.
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.
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