In this episode, Ross sleeps out on the coldest night of the year with some of Cardiff's rough sleepers, he meets people from families torn apart by homelessness and uncovers shocking truths about the government's understanding of the size of the rough sleeper population. Ross says: “No one knows exactly how many rough sleepers there are, but both the government and charities agree that rough sleeping has at least doubled in the past few years.” Ross meets a number of rough sleepers in Cardiff and finds out what drove them to their current situation and what help is available to them. He also tries first hand to experience what they go through on a daily basis and spends a nights in a freezing tent and on the street to find out for himself. He says: “It’s interesting how many people pass and don’t catch your eye. They look at you quickly and then look away. And I guess that’s what I do, just look away. Straight past. Why would you want to stop, why would you want to engage? The only person that did acknowledge me was a drug dealer.” Ross also finds out the truth about the government’s rough sleeper numbers. In South Derbyshire, where the Minister for Homelessness Heather Wheeler is the local MP, Ross learns that official figures showed a count of “zero” in her constituency. However, Ross meets a man who has been living on the streets there for over 30 years. Ross also spends a night in a homeless shelter in Cardiff. He says: “Spending the night at the shelter made me realise how this environment could be frightening and unsettling, and actually deter some of the very homeless people it was supposed to be sheltering.” He adds: “It’s really hard to sleep here. I think possibly that even though it was very cold I probably found it easier to sleep in a tent than I will do tonight.” Finally Ross says: “It’s said that we’re all just a few misfortunes away from ending up on the streets. And every rough sle
It's believed that as many as 800,000 people under the age of 18 care for sick parents or siblings: one in 20 children in Britain. In the second episode of his new series, Ross Kemp investigates the hidden crisis of young carers and starts in Blackburn where he stays the night with the Haywood family. Lizzie, 15, carries out care work for her mother, Donna, who suffers from serious physical difficulties and schizophrenia. Ross discovers that due to her care workload, Lizzie often does her homework late into the night. Accompanying a charity worker, Ross is shocked when he meets young carers as young as five. They include Ali, who cares for his his sister Zainab, a cerebral palsy sufferer with epilepsy and visual impairment. Their mother, Hanifa, says she would be lost without Ali's help. Ross discovers how much money young carers are saving the economy but at the same time, funding for services to help them is falling. And in Manchester, Ross attends a powerful play written and performed by young carers.
Ross Kemp explores the country's knife crime epidemic. He meets teenagers who say they carry knives for self protection, parents who fear for their children's lives and community leaders taking drastic measures to put and end to the violence.
TBC
In the first of a two-part special to begin the second series, the actor and film-maker examines the real-life impact of dementia. He meets Scott Mitchell, the husband of his former on-screen mum Barbara Windsor, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2014. Ross also travels to Leatherhead, Surrey, where he stays with Jerry Beckman, an actor, magician and keen sportsman who has early-onset dementia and Parkinson's disease.
The actor and documentary-maker continues his examination into the impact of dementia, meeting a family whose five-year-old girl has a form of the disease and a woman who needs to sell her mother's house to pay for her £70,000 annual care home fees. Ross also talks once more to Scott Mitchell, husband of his former colleague Barbara Windsor, to find out how they have been coping during lockdown.
An investigation into the problem of addiction to opioids - opium-derived drugs - which are used in powerful prescription painkillers. Ross meets a woman who ended up with a serious addiction after being prescribed drugs for her bad back. He also learns about fentanyl, a painkiller used in cancer treatment, which can be much stronger than heroin and is being advertised for sale illegally in the UK. Ross comes face to face with a drug dealer who has started cutting fentanyl into his product and meets a former chemist whose daughter died from an overdose after taking heroin laced with the drug.
The film-maker investigates how the housing crisis has resulted in some vulnerable families agreeing to be moved by local councils - sometimes many miles away from loved ones - just to keep a roof over their heads. He meets a mother of three whose temporary accommodation across London has ended up being her home for three years so far, and also hears from families in Bradford who say that refusing an offer of accommodation 200 miles away would bring shocking repercussions.