Ross Kemp says it took him five ‘tough’ days to write Barbara Windsor’s eulogy

ok.co.uk:

Ross Kemp has revealed that it took him five days to write Dame Barbara Windsor’s eulogy and said the experience was “very tough” for him.The actor and documentarian, 59, used to play Grant Mitchell in BBC soap EastEnders – son of landlady Peggy Mitchell, played by Dame Barbara.

Dame Barbara died at the age of 83 in 2020, and had been made a dame in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list for her services to charity and entertainment.

Speaking about his new book at Henley Literary Festival on Saturday, Ross said “One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was write her eulogy – and Scott, her husband, came up he said ‘what you gonna call it?’ “I said ‘I haven’t got a clue’… Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere, maybe we call it that or Conversations With Kemp After Three Pints?

And he said, ‘no there’s only one thing you can call, isn’t there?’ Take Nothing For Granted, and I went ‘oh yeah, okay mate’.” He added: “Barbara’s eulogy was very tough for me, and it took me five days to write it, and I hope I did her service. “But I use certain kinds of pens when I’m writing, and I keep them out of reach of my children because they get destroyed, so I reached up on top of the Welsh dresser in the kitchen to get some pens down, finish writing it, and I’m fingering because I can’t reach the top of it and I’m (thinking) ‘what the hell’s that?’ “And it was a piece of card, and I brought it down, and remember five days I’ve been sat in the office writing, and it was ‘To my darling Ross, love Barbara.’ “And literally I went ‘wow’.