Click here to watch a clip from Ross Kemp in Afghanistan

I’m very proud of my new series, Ross Kemp in Afghanistan.It came about three years ago, after the success of my [Bafta-winning] documentary series, Gangs. I mentioned to James Murdoch, who was then in charge of Sky TV, that I wanted to go into Iraq. We couldn’t get anywhere with the Ministry of Defence, but we kept calling and in the end they said, how about going out to Afghanistan instead? I had already heard that my dad’s old regiment, now known as the Royal Anglian, was going out there, which helped to get access. I’m from Essex – I queued up to get into the same nightclubs that those lads queued up to get into. They put me on probation, and we trained with them last January, in the freezing cold on Salisbury Plain, sleeping out with them for about a month. They saw that we handled ourselves reasonably well. Although we would not be carrying weapons, we were trained to use army rifles, so we could fight if it came to it.

But I’m not a frustrated soldier, I’m an actor. There was a lot of leg-pulling, mainly about Ultimate Force, the dreadful SAS thing I did. It was never vicious – it’s part of being accepted. Soldiers are like doctors: if you’re experiencing death on a regular basis, you have to have a sense of humour to get you through.

Of course I was worried about whether I could hack it. I got myself as fit as I could, but in May in Afghanistan the temperature can reach 50 degrees. If you put a piece of bread in the oven at 50 degrees, see what happens to it. The sand is also very caustic, it makes your nose bleed it’s so sharp. On top of that there are two stone of body armour, nine litres of water, provisions, and I was carrying the camera batteries as well. That’s why it looks like I’m running in slow-motion.

The series was shot in high definition; I don’t think an HD camera has ever been taken into a war zone, and there’s a reason for that. It’s like taking a Ferrari to do the job of a Land Rover. But I’m proud that we did it and the pictures look fantastic – both the cameramen did brilliant jobs.

The crew and I didn’t get preferential treatment over the soldiers. You are in a war zone – you eat the same food, shit in the same holes. And if you’re face down in a field, with rounds landing around you and rocket-propelled grenades going off over your head, you bond.

After the first and second Gulf wars, I had the idea that wars were fought electronically and from distance. But the fact is that they’re won on the ground, as they have been from time immemorial. That close proximity was a shock for me.

We laid up outside a village called Jucaylay. I heard this noise like a gigantic firework cutting the air, kicked back my legs back and hit the ground. The Taleban were dug in in a bunker. An RPG passed a metre over my head and hit the compound wall behind me. You pray for the ground to swallow you up.

The rounds were getting closer and closer – one went between my shoulder and my helmet. I was soaking wet – I don’t know if I had wet myself or not. I was carrying a water pouch that split when I hit the ground so it could have been that. If I’d fallen a foot to my left I’d have been pared down the middle by an AK47 round. It was the scariest moment of my life. Everyone said, “The soldiers are there to protect you.” F*** off! They are looking after themselves.

But the toughest thing about the series wasn’t actually being in Afghanistan, it was looking into the eyes of the grieving parents. Helen Gray, who is younger than me, had lost her 19-year-old son, Chris. I was so proud of them for letting us into their houses. It was partly because they knew that the crew and I had been out there and had an insight into where their boys were when they died.

These are 18-year-olds, a generation who are accused of being Nintendo-playing, hoodie-wearing wastrels. But I am proud of every one of them because they were outstanding out there. I don’t think the boys are looked after as much as they are in the US. I don’t think people appreciate them enough.

The Afghans also have my admiration for the way they conduct themselves. I’m not sure they want ISAF [International Security Assistance Force], or the Taleban in their country. I think they just want to grow their crops, milk their cows, go to prayer and get on with their lives, as they have for centuries.

Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, Mon, Sky One and Sky One HD, 9pm.

Interview by Ed Potton

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