Heartstopper star Bradley Riches has finally spilled the tea on who he’ll be playing in his upcoming role in award-winning British soap Emmerdale.
It was announced last month that the actor, who is best known for playing student James McEwan on Heartstopper and appearing on last year’s Celebrity Big Brother, would be joining the soap in a new role.
At the time, the actor could share how thrilled he was to have bagged the part, but couldn’t reveal much more than that – until now.
Riches has now shared that he will be playing Leeds University student Lewis Barton, the brother of Emmerdale villain Ross Barton (Michael Parr).
Ross has been an on-off regular on the Yorkshire-set soap since 2013, and has been involved in some of the show’s most scandalous storylines in recent years.
On arrival in 2013, he attacked beloved resident Laurel Thomas. In 2015, he was revealed as the father of Charity Dingle’s baby before subsequently faking his own death. In 2018, he was the victim of an acid attack at the hands of a drug dealer.
It seems that Riches’ character could potentially get caught up in some of his brother’s deadly antics.
Riches recently explained to Attitude Magazine that Lewis Barton has been aware of his brother Ross for some time, and he arrives in the village after “building up the courage to reach out to him, see if they get along and ask questions about his family”.
The character will be portrayed as Autistic, to reflect Bradley Riches’ own experience of Autism, though the diagnosis won’t necessarily feature in Lewis’s plots.
“The writers were very open to [hearing] how I would say things. For example, in the autism community, we don’t say, ‘I have autism’ – I don’t mind, but some disagree because it’s not additional. I am autistic,” Riches explained.
“He’s just him. And [his autism] is not really a topic… He tells Ross, ‘This is me. It’s part of who I am,’ then it doesn’t get spoken about again.”
Riches also revealed that he was initially in the running to play Dylan Murray, a character introduced to the soap earlier this year. Dylan, now played by Fred Kettle, is a friend of resident April Windsor.
“I came to Leeds for a meeting for a different character: Dylan, who is in April’s storyline. But then the schedule didn’t work, and I thought I’d missed the opportunity,” he explained.
“I felt like it was meant to be. The personality of the character [Lewis] fits me so much better.”
Earlier this week, Riches posted a sweet Instagram photo of him filming with his on-screen brother Parr, alongside the cheeky caption: “Hello brother… I guess good looks do run in the family.”
Riches has been filming on Emmerdale since early March, with his scenes set to air later in the spring.
Emmerdale airs on ITV and ITVX on weeknights.
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