EastEnders legend Ross Kemp has revealed he has “always been worried about money” whilst discussing his “worst investments”. The 61-year-old actor is recognised by millions for playing Grant Mitchell in EastEnders and Graham Lodsworth in Emmerdale.

However, despite appearing in two of Britain’s most beloved soaps, alongside a series of hard-hitting documentaries including Ross Kemp on Gangs, the performer confesses he is more inclined to save rather than spend. Ross attributes this mindset to his parents’ post-war background.

He explains he “stayed in the black” throughout drama school by taking shifts at a pub, cleaning loos, dishing out pizzas at an Italian restaurant, or grafting as a labourer. This was alongside the six days he dedicated to honing his acting skills.

In conversation with The Times, Ross admitted: “I’ve always been really worried about not having money. I don’t think it’s generational or societal because other members of my family are far more relaxed about money, whereas I’ve always been slightly obsessive about it.”

Ross’ career in entertainment is worlds apart from his humble beginnings when he recalls an “irate” woman berating him for delivering the incorrect newspaper during his paper round. Ross mentions he subsequently took a position at a nearby golf club before pocketing £10 daily as a labourer following being “laid off” from Emmerdale, reports the Mirror.

Despite his television triumphs, Ross admits he doesn’t “feel wealthy”, which he says drives him to “work non-stop”. He confesses to being a “workaholic” and speculates that there was a time when he might have been the highest earner on British television.

Nowadays, the star enjoys his downtime in a four-bedroom house straddling the Berkshire-Buckinghamshire border. Ross chose this property because it’s “surrounded by National Trust land that can’t be built on”.

He considers his properties to be the best investment of his TV earnings, revealing that he held onto his first home, a three-bedroom semi in Essex, even after buying his second. “I moved in and kept that one, but then I bought another house, and then I bought another, and then another, and that’s where I am now,” he elaborated.

When it comes to his worst investments, Ross points the finger at those his financial advisors fail to fully disclose.

He added: “The worst ones are done by somebody who runs a portfolio for me and they never want to mention them. At the yearly meetings they only want to show you the investments that have gone up.”

He jests that any investment made two or three decades ago “has to have gone up”. The former soap actor quips that he recalls when a “Mars bar was 4p”.

Ross featured in 32 episodes of Emmerdale from 1986 to 1987 before his contract ended. He appeared in numerous TV shows – including Birds of a Feather – before landing the role of Grant Mitchell in EastEnders in 1990.

He has three children with his wife Renee, and a fourth child from a previous relationship.