If it feels like you can’t turn on the telly without seeing a member of the Kemp family staring back at you, you’re not imagining it. The Kemps are everywhere at the moment, and reality TV seems to be their natural habitat.
Credit: Instagram/@martinkemp
Before they became the UK’s most present family on TV, Martin and Shirlie actually already had very successful careers.
Here’s a full rundown of who they are, what they do, and why they’re suddenly on every show going.
Martin Kemp
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Martin Kemp is still known to most people as the bassist of Spandau Ballet, the band behind 80’s bangers like Heartache and Goodbye Stranger. He then moved into acting, playing Reggie Kray in The Krays alongside his brother Gary, and popping up in films like Waxwork II and Embrace of the Vampire, as well as TV staples including Casualty and Lewis.
These days, Martin mostly exists on whatever television programme will have him. He’s starred in the mockumentary The Kemps: All True (and its sequel All Gold), has appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox with Roman, and co-presented Martin & Roman’s Sunday Best! and Martin & Roman’s Weekend Best! with him too. Of course, he’s currently on I’m A Celebrity.
Shirlie Kemp
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Shirlie Kemp started her career as part of Wham! before moving on to the duo Pepsi & Shirlie. Although she tends to stay slightly more low-key than Martin, she still finds herself dragged into plenty of TV projects. She appeared with Martin on The Masked Singer as the duo Cat & Mouse, and had a cameo in The Kemps: All True.
In 2018, she and Martin also took part in the BBC series Eight Go Rallying: The Road to Saigon, where they drove a tiny 1972 Mini across Southeast Asia and somehow didn’t break up or crash into a paddy field. A miracle.
Roman Kemp
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Roman Kemp is arguably the busiest member of the family. After years hosting the Capital FM breakfast show, he’s now a regular presenter on The One Show and has hosted everything from the BRITs to the Global Awards.
He’s also made a name for himself in reality and documentary TV, finishing third in I’m A Celebrity in 2019 and later presenting the mental health documentary Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency.
He still appears on Celebrity Gogglebox with Martin, and co-hosted Sunday Best! and Weekend Best! with him. He even went on DNA Journey, where he discovered a whole group of long-lost relatives because the Kemps truly love a family plot twist.
Harleymoon Kemp
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Despite being the least showbiz-forward of the bunch, Harleymoon Kemp has also had her fair share of screen time. While she mainly works as a country singer and songwriter, she joined Roman on Celebrity Race Across the World, which is currently airing on BBC One.
There’s officially no escaping Britain’s busiest TV family.
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Featured image credit: Channel 4
