Ross Kemp was near death after passing out during dive

Ross Kemp narrowly cheated death after passing out during an underwater dive while filming his new TV show.

The former 'EastEnders' star returns to the small screen on Monday (10.04.23) with his new adventure show 'Ross Kemp: Deep Sea Treasure Hunter' in which he explores shipwrecks around the UK - but Ross has revealed one of his dives almost ended in disaster when he passed out under the waves while filming in the Plymouth Sound.

He told The Mirror newspaper: "Diving may appear very easy, but it isn’t. It’s extremely technical. If it goes wrong, it can go seriously wrong."

Ross explained he lost consciousness due to a "hypocapnia hit" in which a diver accidentally inhales too much carbon dioxide and he said he forgot where he was and became convinced he was in his garden instead of under the water.

He went on: "It was a little bit of a spark and then I just blacked out. I thought removing the pipes was like trying to rock a tree stump out of my back garden.

"But the amount of C02 which was seeping into my system was basically clouding my judgement, and I forgot completely that I was actually not in my backyard - I was in the middle of Plymouth Sound."

Ross added of the scary moment: "Literally, the black-out was for half a second. But that was enough for my lungs to feel as if they were on fire ... "

He said the seriousness of the situation didn't hit him until much later when he was recovering in his hotel room, with the star musing: "I was still a little bit strange when I went back and lay on the bed in the hotel room. I made sure I didn’t fall asleep for five hours. I was just looking at the ceiling of the Novotel thinking, “That was f****** close!"

'Ross Kemp: Deep Sea Treasure Hunter' airs on Sky History on Monday (10.04.23) at 9pm.