| This Morning - Celeb Chat |
| He's played Reggie Kray and Albert Square bad boy Steve Owen, and now Martin Kemp is back on screen in a new ITV1 drama series called 'Family', labelled by some as the British Sopranos... 'FAMILY': Family' is a six-part drama set against the background of the London underworld. The Cutlers are ruthless but revered, and are fiercely loyal to one another. They are passionate, affectionate and emotional, but they'll use any means they can to get what they want within the law or not. Ted Cutler (David Calder) is one of Britain's most notorious villains aka 'The Guv'nor'. He runs the Cutler firm. The legitimate business is gaming machines. The real business is crime. He has two sons, Joey (Martin Kemp), and Dave (Jamie Foreman), and a daughter, Jacqueline (Simone Lahbib), known affectionately as Jacks. Joey is married to Sophie and they have two daughters; Jacks lives alone and for some reason finds it difficult to find a man. Dave is married and has a boy to carry the Cutler name forward, but Dave's somewhere in America, still bearing a grudge after a ten-year-old quarrel with his father. Martin's Biography: Martin was born on October 10th 1961 in his parents' house in Islington, London. He grew up in Islington and attended, like his brother, Rotherfield Junior School. It was a bit of an embarrasing experience for little Martin as it is the only school that makes its pupils wear shorts as part of their school uniform. In contrast to their later somewhat glamorous band image the Kemps had a solid working class background, but despite the fact that money was sometimes short. Martin's parents did everything to give their children something a bit special. So from the age of 8, Martin and his big brother went to a local drama school, the 'Anna Scheer Children's Theatre' in Benton Court, just across the street from their home. Martin later attended the Central Foundation Grammar School in Old Street, where he started to mix with his brother's friends. That's where he also met John Keeble, Steve Norman and Tony Hadley. But he didn't join Gary's school band at first, instead he started his own band in 1977, a punk combo called 'The Defects'. Unfortunately it just lasted three months, but at least he learnt to play the guitar. Leaving school at 16, his parents gave him the freedom to hang around for a while, but finally he started an apprenticeship as printer, following in his father's footsteps. But in the back of his mind it was already clear to him that his future would be in the music business. In 1978 Gary's school band The Makers lost their bass player Richard Miller and Martin stepped in for him. His brother taught him how to play the bass guitar in only four weeks. They changed their name to 'Gentry' and Martin had his first gig with the original Spandau line-up at a university party when he was 16. In 1979 they change the band's name once again to 'Spandau Ballet' and the rest is history! He and Shirlie spontaneously got married during their winter holidays and on August 19th 1989 their daughter Harley Moon was born. Also some professional changes were underway during those two years. Martin and his brother launched a second career in Cannes 1988 where they introduced their film project 'The Krays' to the press. But only at the end of 1989 cameras start rolling and finally after the last Spandau Ballet tour the film premiered in April 1990. It is a big success and opened the doors for Martin into the acting business. For his new job he spent a lot of time travelling in the beginning of the 90s and also lived for a while in Los Angeles. There his second child Roman was born in January 1993. But after the riots and the big earthquake he decided to move back to England for good. Due to his brain tumour ordeal in 1995 Martin took a bit of a break from filming, concentrating on getting well and writing on a film script himself. But in 1998 he came back in full force with a mini-series for ITV and a special for the popular UK tv show 'The Bill'. He then went on to 'Eastenders' at the end of 1998 until 2002, playing Steve Owen. Now 42, he recently finished filming his next project - Brides In The Bath - about Edwardian murderer George Joseph Smith, whose victims included Alice Burnham, killed in Blackpool in 1913. September 2003 This Morning Website |