Emmerdale’s troubled Ross Barton has a lot of emotional issues to work through before he departs the Dales, says Mike Parr.
The actor, who announced he’s leaving the ITV show last week, has revealed that the soap is set to explore the psychological torment faced by Ross in the wake of the acid attack.
He also has to come to terms with recently finding out that former girlfriend Debbie Dingle was behind the atrocity.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk on the Soap Awards red carpet about Ross’ immediate future, Mike said: “Obviously we’re going to have to deal with the psychological damage.
“He’s had this done to him, but he was so focused on the revenge aspect to it, he’s not had a change to look at where his mental state is at.
“So I think we’re going to explore that aspect which is a very, very important aspect to explore.”
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Talking about his exit storyline, Mike clearly wasn’t about to give anything major away…
However he did joke: “It’s a little way off, so I don’t yet know how I’m going to be written out.
“But I’ve heard talk of a nuclear bomb. I don’t know if that’s true. But Ross is the one who pushes the red button.”
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On a more serious note, Mike mentioned that there is genuine affection between his character and fellow survivor Rebecca.
He told the website: “Ross has definite feelings for Rebecca. There’s a connection between the two of them because they’ve both been through such traumatic events in the last six months.
“They’ve both lost their families. They’ve both been in an accident. There was a spark there between them, but then that Robert managed to get in the way.”
Talking about his future after leaving the soap, Mike added: “I’ve got plans what I want to do with my personal life. With regards to acting, I’m definitely not leaving to become a professional cage fighter [as was reported]. Although I probably could do and get an immediate title shot if I wanted…”
Mike announced he was leaving the soap via social media.
He wrote: “Yes I’ll be leaving the soap soon. Have had the best few years at Emmerdale but it’s time to move on and explore other avenues. If I win that soap award I might stay though.”
At the weekend, he admitted he’d actually quit Emmerdale last year but was persuaded to stay for the acid attack storyline.
The actor said he always intended to bow out of the soap after four years playing bad boy Ross.
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