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 players." Kemp was also critical of the compensation system for wounded soldiers and the "despicable" shortage of helicopters, the most important thing needed, which were unavailable purely for monetary reasons, but which ultimately had cost lives on the tour. Kemp found that kit was unsuitable for desert ops, such as cold war rations and clothing deteriorating too quickly. Kemp also criticised the unfit state of Pirbright barracks living quarters. On the time he and the crew were pinned down, Kemp stated he started praying, "cowering in the dirt with fear", wanting the ground to swallow him up He said that