Ross Barton’s return to Emmerdale was a huge moment for the soap’s superfans, and now that he’s here it’s opened up a whole world of possibilities for other character returns.
And actor Michael Parr knows exactly who they should be.
Ross’ return has been a controversial one after several years away – he arrived back in the village as part of an unlicensed fighting ring preparing to knock seven bells out of Billy. Since coming back he’s managed to rub both Cain (Jeff Hordley) and Mack (Lawrence Robb) the wrong way, and even irked Charity (Emma Atkins) when he tried to snog her.
He came back with terrible news that Rebecca had died during routine surgery, and left Aaron (Danny Miller) and Victoria (Isabel Hodgins) gutted to learn that Seb had been taken off to live with an aunt nobody knows.
So all in all, he didn’t just slip back in unnoticed, his return has been a dramatic one. And now actor Mike Parr has spotted the opportunity for three more of his favourite colleagues to come back and join him.
The first is Anthony Quinlan, who played Ross’ brother Pete.
Pete left the village abruptly back in 2020, citing that the loss of so many family members – mum, dad, brother, uncle – was too much to bear. But four years is enough time for him to get over it, surely?
‘I’ve got no Quinny backing me up,’ Mike said of missing his co-star when chatting to Metro. ‘Quinny played Pete Barton, my older brother and he’s just like my older brother in real life. We don’t see each other as much as we used to but we’re still in touch.’
Their off-screen bond is strong as Mike credits Anthony for teaching him the acting craft.
‘He really showed me and Joe [Gill] the ropes,’ he revealed. ‘There were so many things we didn’t know what to do and how to handle and Quinny is like a lovely, soft, fun person to be around.’
While a brotherly reunion would be epic, Mike has got his eye on another return that would be absolutely mind blowing, and he knows what the crowd wants.
‘The fan favourite is going to be Robert Sugden, isn’t it?’ he said when asked who else he’d like to see back. ‘I would love to bring him back just to satisfy the audience because I see how thirsty they are for Ryan Hawley’s return.’
He’s not wrong – Robert has been the hot topic recently with Aaron moving on with John (Oliver Farnworth). It would be interesting timing if he showed up now.
There’s also the question of Seb, and whether if Robert returned, he’d bring his son with him – which would seriously put a strain on Aaron and John’s relationship.
Speaking of actor Ryan Hawley, Mike teased what could be some explosive storylines: ‘He’s a lot of fun to work with and when Robert and Danny [Miller] were together, they made a good villain for Ross to go against. Bring him back.’
So, Mike wants it, the audience wants it, could a Robert return be on the cards?
Mike had one more return to share with Emmerdale, and possibly his best selection of the lot – Liz Estensen, AKA Diane.
Diane left the village for a life in Portugal, where she now resides with daughter Bernice. Mike is keen to call her back to the Dales, calling her the ‘biggest giggler’ of the lot.
‘What happened to Liz Estensen? I would love to work with her just because I’ve never worked with anybody so much who – when you’re acting and the scenes are going well some people are more giggly than anyone.
‘But she was like the biggest giggler that I’ve ever worked with.’
We support all these returns!
Ross will find himself in a serious situation next week when April is kidnapped by vengeful Jade, who believes that he stole the money from the illegal fight a number of weeks ago.
April is taken to the very location where her mum Donna died, leaving Ross determined to save her.
Speaking to Metro about the scenes, Michael said: ‘It’s panic stations for Ross. When there is a kid involved, everyone starts to panic, especially when you throw a character like Jade into the situation.
‘He knows that he doesn’t really have anybody to turn to as the blame would come back on him. When he knows where April has been taken to, he knows that it’s probably not going to end well!’.
