Emmerdale star promises ‘recipe for weirdness’ this Christmas

It’s been a little over a year since the absolutely wonderful Lewis Barton (Bradley Riches) joined Emmerdale, and what a tenure it’s been already!

It all kicked off when he reunited with his newly-discovered brother, Ross Barton (Michael Parr), before learning that his biological mum, Emma (Gillian Kearney) was killed by Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) which was…awkward, to say the least.

He became a permanent fixture in the village when he bought into Main St. Café, forming a delightful duo with Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler), before catching the eye of future-boyfriend Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson), in a plotline that made the entirety of soapland deliver a collective ‘awh!’.

On the soap rollercoaster though, a down must always follow an up, and Lewis was thrown into turmoil when he discovered that convicted armed-robber Kev (Chris Coghill) was his biological dad, and since then, Vinny’s role in a seismic car crash that claimed the lives of multiple villagers looks set to tear the two apart.

Speaking about his time on the show exclusively to Metro at the Inside Soap awards, Bradley said: ‘It feels like such a privilege.

‘I’ve always wanted to be that representation that I never once had. It’s such a privilege.

Bradley is thrilled by the reception to his character from audiences (Picture: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA Wire)

‘The team at Emmerdale, they ask me all the things that Bradley would do, or what they think Lewis would do. We want to try and make a character that’s as authentic as possible. It means the absolute world.’

Speaking on the reaction to his character, he said: ‘When I first joined, there was a reaction of, who the hell is this person?

‘There was a lot of that reaction but now people have seen Lewis being vulnerable, reconnect with his dad, there’s a lot to process, but I think people are really loving him.

‘As neurodivergent or autistic people, a lot of the time, we do get misjudged, and I feel like it is such a beautiful representation of the autism community in real life.

‘So much of my life I was misjudged. People have taken to Lewis and I’m very excited for him to go on more journeys and have more storylines, it’s going to be very special.’

We absolutely agree!

Bradley teased an interesting first Christmas with his dad…and others! (Picture: Mark Bruce/ITV)

Speaking of those journeys, we asked Bradley what we can expect for Lewis, and he teased a very interesting festive period for his character and the ragtag family he’s built around himself – some blood, some chosen.

‘Christmas is coming up and things are going to be very dysfunctional.

‘You may have Kev, Nicola, Ross, all those amazing characters who are different and weird in their own way coming together at Christmas…it’s a recipe for weirdness which I’m buzzing about.’

…and as sad as it makes us, we just had to ask about what’s to come for Lewis and Vinny, with actor Bradley Johnson’s upcoming departure from the show.

‘For Lewis, there is so much to unravel, especially with Vinny and the car collision,’ Bradley mused.

‘Lewis is in a weird situation – he finally has something he enjoys and he’s so happy with and suddenly, that’s falling apart.

There’s heartbreak ahead… (Picture: ITV)

‘I feel like, with that situation, Lewis’ bestie in the village is Nicola so inevitably, he wants to be there for her, but he’s also in love with this man.

‘He wants to go to Bali!’

Honestly, Brad – we feel that!

‘There are a lot of layers to it. I think this is the first time you’ll see Lewis put his big boy boots on.

‘He’ll have a little cry, but he’ll be like ‘I know what’s right, I’m going to do this’, and that’ll be the outcome.’

I don’t know about you lot, but I, for one, am really looking forward the Christmas dish that this ‘recipe for weirdness’ creates!

Comments Add as preferred source