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From Spandau Ballet to EastEnders

Martin Kemp was the bassist in Britain's 1980s pop band before finding fame as an actor, but he rules out a return to the BBC soap.

2014-11-09_2306Brit Martin Kemp, one of the 5 original members of Spandau Ballet was in Australia last week on a promo tour, but the bass guitarist is also well known for his acting achievements.

Kemp played Steve Owen in EastEnders from 1998 – 2002 but told fans at a Melbourne Q&A last week there’s no chance of returning to the soap, after BBC producers didn’t take so kindly to his plans to depart.

“I said, ‘I want to leave, I’ve been here for 3 years’ and they suddenly said, ‘Can we keep the door open for you? You can come back anytime you want, you’re always welcome,'” he recalled.

“So I said, ‘OK that’s nice.’

“But a few weeks later they called back and said, ‘Where are you going?’ and I said ‘I’m going to ITV.’

“Then the next script I picked up I had been blown up. So it didn’t go down very well!”

Kemp has since appeared in numerous other productions including Agatha Christie’s Marple, Heartbeat, Waterloo Road and Hustle.

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