Being on Enders set without Bar was emotional

Star's upsetting moment during 40th anniversary return

- EXCLUSIVE BY SANJEETA BAINS

STARING at the ruins of the Old Vic when the pub went up in flames for EastEnders' 40th anniversary proved especially poignant for actor Ross Kemp.

It brought back emotional memories of spending time there with his good pal, the late actress Dame Barbara Windsor, who played his on-screen mum Peggy Mitchell.

Ross, 60, who returned to the BBC1 soap for the special week last month, says: “It was very emotional to be back there without Bar.

“Sometimes it feels like so much longer Bar’s been gone and sometimes it feels like less. I miss her, she was a very good friend to me.”

Fans saw hardman Grant Mitchell return to Albert Square alongside a couple of other much-loved characters from the past, including Anita Dobson as Angie Watts.

When murderer Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman) crashed his car into the Queen Vic, setting off a gas explosion, Grant’s ex-wife Sharon (Letitia Dean) was among those caught in the debris. Ross says:

“There was a scene where, after the Vic went up in flames, I had to go around the back of the Vic to rescue Sharon.