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 a weapon. The crew were pinned down for "about seven to ten minutes" with return fire commencing after "three or four minutes" after the soldiers had got into cover. Only after fierce return fire and a delay of three or four minutes could the crew be extracted. On speaking about how he unwound from his experience in Afghanistan, which he described as "an unhealthy environment in many ways", Kemp stated: "When I got home I went to the pub for 24 hours and had a good long drink" On returning Kemp said "it's difficult to come back and see life