Ross Kemp says Barbara Windsor doesn't recognise him as EastEnders star battles Alzheimer's

The TV hardman is observing the effects of dementia in his new documentary series
Getty Images
Kimberley Bond11 June 2020
The Weekender

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Ross Kemp has revealed how Alzheimer’s disease has left his former EastEnders co-star, Barbara Windsor unable to recognise him.

Kemp starred alongside 82-year-old Windsor as they played mother and son Peggy and Grant Mitchell on the BBC One soap for over 20 years.

Still close friends, the 55-year-old has spoken candidly about how Windsor’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis six years ago has changed the star as part of his latest documentary series Ross Kemp: Living With Dementia.

“Barbara was my 'TV mum' on EastEnders and is hilariously funny and vivacious, with a rapier wit — we’ve always had a giggle, on and off set,” he told The Sun.

Kemp and Windsor played mother and son on EastEnders
BBC/Kieron McCarron

“But now she clearly has no idea who I am.”

Kemp added that discussing Windsor with her husband of 20 years Scott Mitchell was what inspired him to explore dementia in his latest series.

While dementia does hit fairly close to home for Kemp, with his grandmother also suffering from the disease in the later stages of her life, it was Mitchell’s honesty about being Windsor’s carer which took Kemp on “an emotional rollercoaster”.

The pair have been friends for over 30 years
PA

Mitchell told Kemp: “It’s not the Barbara that I knew. It’s not my wife Barbara any more.

"I’m Barbara’s carer, I’m still her friend, you know, I still love the bones off the woman but it’s not the Barbara I knew that I live with.”

Kemp said he has been taken aback by how quickly Windsor has changed.

The Mitchell family in EastEnders

1/30

“I see her as often as I can — every couple of months before the lockdown — and the deterioration in her condition has been shocking and to those of us close to her, deeply upsetting," he revealed.

Kemp added that the stories he heard from other carers in the series “brought tears to his eyes”.

“Making these programmes, it became clear that those suffering from dementia, and their families, are in great need of quality affordable care,” he said. “Something that needs not to be forgotten.”

Ross Kemp: Living With Dementia starts Friday at 7:30pm on ITV

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