Martin Kemp and son Roman received complaints from neighbour who issued ‘demand’
Roman Kemp has been hosting Gogglebox alongside his famous father Martin for the past six years, but the pair had complaints when they first began
Roman Kemp has revealed that a disgruntled neighbour "demanded" money after he started filming Celebrity Gogglebox at his flat with his father, Martin Kemp. The One Show presenter Roman, aged 32, and his dad Martin, who is 63, joined the popular Channel 4 programme six years ago.
Martin and Roman initially filmed their segments for the show from Roman's apartment. However, on a recent instalment of his podcast You About? with singer Tom Grennan, Roman disclosed that one of his neighbours took issue with them using his home as a set.
According to Roman, this irate neighbour even purchased a guitar and amplifier in an attempt to disrupt the production. He recounted how the person went as far as visiting Channel 4's offices, insisting on speaking with the production team, reports Wales Online.
Roman detailed the situation: "We shot it at my flat for a long time in the beginning. I used to have a neighbour downstairs...that person would try and delay filming to another level, just hated the fact that, it was my property, but hated the fact that stuff was going on."
He continued, describing the neighbour's antics: "We weren't even loud but they just didn't like the fact there was television around it. They would buy a guitar and an amp and just be playing it as loud as possible during filming."
Roman then explained the extent of the neighbour's actions: "They even went to Studio Lambert, who are the production company. This neighbour of mine walked to Channel 4 and demanded to see Mr Lambert because they demanded payment due to ear and sound assault."
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The filming schedule for Martin and Roman had to be adjusted, leading them to use a "show home" as their set. However, after some persuasion, former EastEnders actor Martin allowed the crew to utilise an annexe on his Hertfordshire estate.
Martin was adamant that the production team "stay in a van" while not inside the annexe. Roman elaborated: "My parents live in a really nice place where they have like a second home thing, like an annexe, to the right of the house that has a living room and a TV."
He further explained his father's conditions: "My dad was like, 'Okay, look, you can shoot the show here, but everyone's got to wait outside in a van'. So they're all outside in the van, they wire all the cables, and my dad's like, 'You're not coming in for lunch, you're having your lunch in the van or outside, or whatever'."
However, there was an instance when a producer needed to use the facilities at Martin's home. Roman recounted: "All of a sudden one of the producers knocks on the door and literally pokes his head around the door because he knew he's not allowed to come in."
The producer hesitantly asked: "He pokes his head around the corner and says, 'Mr Kemp, Martin, is there any chance I could use your toilet?' And my dad was like, 'Course mate, don't be silly, come in, you never have to ask to use the toilet'."
Roman described the moment the producer was directed to the loo: "He points to him where the toilet is, it's like 10 feet away, so the bloke goes over there, and only guys will understand this. To have another guy say this to you, is like power play.
"My dad looked at this bloke and said, 'Yeah, course mate use the toilet'. Second he got to the door, he looked at him and said, 'Sit down though'."
