Tom Hooper worked 10-hour days on "EastEnders", and learned to direct with speed. He was influenced in his early career by the cinematic style of American TV series such as "ER", "NYPD Blue" and "" and tried to work that style into his "EastEnders" episodes; one scene featuring Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) involved a crane shot, which Hooper believes made him infamous among the "EastEnders" production crew. In 1999, Hooper directed two episodes of Granada Television's comedy-drama television series "Cold Feet", which marked his move to bigger-budget productions. There was initially concern at Granada that Hooper might be an unsuitable director for
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan Anglians were chosen as Kemp has a twofold personal interest in the Vikings. His father saw active service as part of the Anglians in the 1950s, and had served in one of the Royal Anglians predecessor units, the Royal Norfolk Regiment, for four years in Cyprus. Kemp also claimed to have an affinity with the soldiers in the Royal Anglians, as having grown up in Essex/East Anglia, he had the same background and possessed shared life experiences as the troops who fall in the Anglians' recruiting area, albeit with an age difference. Kemp at 43 is significantly older than the