:February:

11th - Ross Kemp 'busy writing new sitcom'
14th - Town Hall stars in TV spectacular (UF2)
21st - Ross 'to debut in West End'

:March:

18th-30th - Aldwych Tube Station art exhibit features painting of Ross
31st - The Henley Standard reports that there has been some filming of "Ultimate Force II" going on in Henley. They note that the sight of police cars and men running around in combat gear sparked a bit of alarm amongst some locals ;-)

:April:

29th - Series 1 of "Ultimate Force" is now available to pre-order at Amazon UK (DVD or VHS). No word yet on a release in US formats but it's a possibility, so stay tuned. Series 2 begins June 18 on ITV1 (UK).

:May:

22nd - According to Sky News, Ross Kemp is making his stage debut in London later this year (as noted in the February story above), and they say a return to EastEnders could be in the works. Their story states that Ross was spotted "talking openly to a producer's friend on the show about his character Grant Mitchell". (RKF note - Ross still has more programming hours to fulfill with ITV and has other projects on, so a return to EE in the near future would appear to be out).

:June:

3rd - Ross Kemp has landed his first American role - he's set to appear in a remake of the epic "Spartacus", starring Goran Visnjic from ER. Ross says, "I play Chinna, who’s in charge of the gladiatorial school and teaches Spartacus to be a gladiator. It's filmed in Bulgaria and I was really pleased to be asked". Filming has already begun and the four hour production will air on USA Network in the first quarter of 2004.
6th - Ross's Ultimate Job
11th - Happy First Anniversary: Ross married Rebekah Wade in Las Vegas on this day in 2002.
19th - "Ultimate Force Pays Off For ITV". From The Guardian: The new series of Ultimate Force started with a bang last night, drawing in nearly one in three viewers. The first installment of the six-part series got 6 million viewers between 9pm-10pm, up slightly on the 5.8m who tuned into the first episode of the original series shown last September.
24th - SAS Ross on Special Mission
26th - Macho and mucho

:July:

6th - Kemp's SAS drama a big hit abroad
7th - Kemp SAS drama is global hit
7th - From The Evening Echo: Southend - TV tough guy helps open karate school. Television tough guy Ross Kemp found he was no longer the hardest man in town when he turned up to open a friend's karate school. The former Eastenders' star, who studied drama at college in Southend and grew up in Shenfield, cut the ribbon at the opening of Simon Kidd's new Kazen Kai Karate centre. Simon, a fifth Dan black belt, has been working on the training centre for several months, and more than 100 people turned up for the grand opening. Ross urged people to learn how to defend themselves using a martial art.
8th - Kemp makes Bard debut and tames touring Shrew
8th - Ultimate Chat: Ross's webchat in The Sun (this site gets a mention :-)
23rd - Star Ross is Julius Geezer - Sun article on RK in "Spartacus"
23rd - Hardman Ross brushes up his Shakespeare

:August:

7th - From the Irish Examiner: Ross in new charity campaign - Celebrities in Britain are taking part in a charity campaign being launched today which celebrates the return of the ‘tache. TV stars including Dermot O’Leary, Ralf Little and Ross Kemp [ see pic ] are seen sporting moustaches in the pages of GQ magazine. They are joined by the likes of DJ Pete Tong, broadcaster Richard Bacon and actor Nick Moran. It is all in support of Tacheback, a campaign launched today by the British Everyman male cancer charity. Men are being urged to grow them starting on September 1 and must keep them for at least a month.
8th - Great news: Ultimate Force 3 is a definite! The publicist for the show informs us that a new series will go into production in a new format of 4x90 minutes, and that Ross Kemp will again star. More details will be posted as we get them.
12th - Ross Kemp in Liberia Crisis Appeal today: The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is today launching a multi-media Liberia Crisis Appeal to support the work of the UK's best known aid agencies. The Appeal will help fund the rapid expansion of aid work following the first signs of peace in the capital Monrovia. The appeal will be launched at 11.00am in central London as two aid flights prepare to depart for Monrovia this evening from Manston Airport in Kent. Celebrities will staff some of the donation lines as the first televised appeals are screened on the BBC and ITV after 6.30pm. The appeal will be fronted by Ross Kemp on both ITV and BBC - the first time both networks have used the same celebrity. Donations can be made online at http://www.dec.org.uk or by calling 0870 60 60 900 or at any high street bank or post office.
14th - Huge response to Liberia aid appeal
19th - £2.5m raised for Liberia

:September:

17th - Woodland Trust project gets under way - backed by Ross
22nd - Ross appeared on "This Morning" last week, talking about his upcoming role in "The Taming of the Shrew". He also talked about the third series of "Ultimate Force", saying that filming would likely begin in February 2004. He said that they hoped to film in Morocco but this remains to be seen. As previously reported, there are set to be four 90-minute episodes, but he said there was also the possibility of a fifth. (Thanks to Lisa for the report).
24th - Ross has a tough role
28th - Sky News reports that "[James] Bond bosses are set to attend a performance of Ross Kemp's new theatrical show in Plymouth with a view to offering him a role."
29th - Soap fans want Grant back - Grant Mitchell has been voted as the soap character most television viewers want to see back on their screens. The EastEnders hard man, played by Ross Kemp, was picked by one in five soap fans asked who they would most like to see make a comeback.

:October:

2nd - Ross makes his Shakespeare debut
8th - Ross is lured by shrew
11th - Having seen it for myself, I can report that Ross puts in an outstanding performance as Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew"! Here are two reviews available online: BBCi review * What's On Stage review
14th - Shrewd move, Ross - TOTS review from The Mirror

:November:

7th - TV star set to present prizes
8th - TV's hard-man Kemp slots easily into comedy role
13th - I received official confirmation today that series 2 of "Ultimate Force" will be released on video/DVD in summer 2004, apparently to coincide with the airing of series 3. The exact date is still to be determined. Also today, ITV informs us that "The Crooked Man", which Ross filmed last year, is likely to be broadcast in the UK before Christmas. They also note "...as we only confirm our schedules 10 days prior to broadcast we are unable to provide a specific date." So keep your eyes peeled!
?? - Kate's not for taming
13th - Shrew delight as Kemp struts his stuff

:December:

13th - "I'll never return to Albert Square"
14th - Ross will be appearing on GMTV the morning of December 16, and on "Richard and Judy" on December 17 - both appearances to promote his drama "The Crooked Man" which airs on ITV1 on Wednesday December 17 at 9pm.
17th - Ross mistaken for Peeping Tom during TV shoot
18th - The airing of "The Crooked Man" last night drew 5.6 million viewers, a 27% audience share.