Emmerdale’s Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) has made a grand return to the ITV soap as wedding chaos erupts, and it would appear fans are in for a real rollercoaster. Here, soap legend Ryan talks to the Mirror about his explosive return
Chaos is a certainty as Emmerdale legend Ryan Hawley makes a permanent return to the Dales tonight – ready for his character Robert Sugden to disrupt the soap’s 119th wedding.
Fresh from prison, will he get there in time to stop his ex, Aaron Dingle, from making a big mistake by tying the knot with John Sugden, who viewers know has murdered Nate Robinson? Ryan’s lips are sealed. “You will have to watch to find out!” he teases.
Persuaded to reprise the role he quit in 2019, after five years, by his co-star Danny Miller, who plays Aaron, rumours have abounded that Ryan was returning for a guest appearance.
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But, after Danny messaged him in Brazil, where he was living with his wife Daisy Prestes de Oliveira and their two children, to see if he’d consider coming back, Ryan, 39, tells The Mirror: “The secret is out today! My character is returning permanently and not just for Aaron and John’s wedding. I am back for good, and I am so excited to be playing Robert again.
“I have had a few calls over the past six years to see how I would feel about reprising the role, but it never felt quite right. Recently, while I was living in Brazil with my family, where we had been for the past year, Danny texted to see how I would feel. We’ve always kept in touch, and after a lot of thought, I told him, ‘Yeah, I am up for it. ’ I then got a call swiftly from the producers, and it went from there.
“The timing felt right for us to not only move back to Britain, but also for me to come back to Emmerdale. Enough time has passed, and with this big wedding storyline, it is the right time for Robert to cause chaos and huge drama!”
The lengths to which producers went to keep his character’s return tonight secret were impressive, even by Emmerdale’s standards. As part of a cloak and dagger operation, on scripts, his lines were given the codename ‘Marco’ – after a man Aaron briefly dated.
And Ryan even used a secret entrance to come into the studios, when he arrived from his Yorkshire home. Smiling, he says, “It has made me feel very special and important, the way people have treated me since I decided to come back.
“We’ve wanted to keep it a secret that I am coming back for good. My scripts have had Marco on them, rather than Robert, and so much effort has been put into it. I have been coming in via a secret entrance, so nobody could see me arrive, and it has been very hush, hush. I have also got driven in by one of our very trusted esteemed transport seniors (to make sure it stayed a secret), and so much hard work has been put into it logistically.”
The entire cast, apart from Danny, were stunned when they discovered Marco was, in fact, Robert. “They couldn’t believe I was back!” he laughs. “It was such a surprise, and everyone has been so lovely.”
Ryan’s return is a huge coup for Emmerdale’s producers, who are planning a series of massive storylines around him over the coming year. Tonight, Robert will make his debut, having served six years of his 14-year sentence, imposed in 2019 after the manslaughter of Lee Posner, who had raped his sister, Victoria. After Victoria’s assault, Robert confronted Posner and, in the ensuing fight, the rapist was killed.
But Robert has now been granted leave to attend the wedding of his half-brother, John, to Aaron. And in true soap style, he turns up just as the grooms are standing at the altar. As for Aaron and Robert, they tied the knot in 2018.
But when Robert was jailed a year later, it led to them splitting up, leaving Aaron devastated, as he had always regarded him as the love of his life. “Robert has been let out of prison as he won an appeal to attend it (the wedding),” explains Ryan. “The audience knows John is up to no good, and they want the wedding to be stopped.
“I can’t say too much, but Robert will walk in on the wedding during Thursday’s episode. He causes disasters wherever he goes, but on this occasion, he wants to stop the wedding – and while it will cause chaos, it’s also the right thing to do, because we know John isn’t right for Aaron.”
Looking shifty, he adds: “But can Robert stop it in time?! You will have to watch to find out!” But what are Robert’s romantic intentions?
“Definitely, he harbours feelings for Aaron,” replies Ryan. “Aaron is the love of his life, and vice versa, and so he is coming back to stop a wedding he doesn’t think should be happening.
“A lot of time has passed, and Robert is a different person now. He is hiding a lot of secrets, and there is a back story, which will come out in time, and that is another of the reasons why I am back – because it is so nice to play someone who is different, yet also familiar.”
How Robert is freed from prison for good and when he will return properly to the Emmerdale village is, again, being kept under wraps.
The drama for Ryan in the build up to coming back has been almost as intense as the storylines on screen – causing some understandable nerves, especially as his character had been such a hit before. He explains: “There is a level of standard you have to live up to, and so I was nervous about that and what it would be like.
“You do have anxiety, but everyone was so kind on set and so welcoming that my nerves quickly went, thankfully.” Working alongside Danny and so many of his old Emmerdale friends, after several years away from the Dales, has been brilliant.
While he appeared in TV dramas including All Creatures Great and Small, he admits there have been tough times, too.
“I have been able to do some cool stuff while I have been away,” he says. “I’ve got to do things like All Creatures Great and Small, Miss Scarlet, Casualty and Silent Witness. “I wasn’t as busy as I would have liked, but that meant I got to be around my kids a lot, so I was very lucky.”
Moving to live in Brazil for a year was also amazing. “It was great and such a nice life experience,” he says, adding that returning to Yorkshire in the summer means he doesn’t feel “too cold.”
On the positive of being away from the public eye, he adds: “One thing about not being in the show is you get to focus on your own life. That’s been lovely. But I am ready to be back in the show. My kids are old enough that I can come back to commit to that now.”
And loyal fans, nicknamed Robron, will be delighted to see him return. “Every time I did another show, I would promote it on my Instagram, but everyone just kept saying ‘oh great, but we would like to see you back in Emmerdale!’” says Ryan.
“I hope everyone will be really excited today, especially with all the drama he creates at the wedding. Robert is such an interesting character to play, as he is often saying one thing, doing another, scheming and backstabbing.
“He is going to create a lot of drama in the village and rub people up the wrong way.
“There will be lots of conflicts, and there are lots of enjoyable scenes. It’s a very exciting year that lies ahead, and there will be a lot of chaos.”
But will the path to true love run smoothly for Robert and Aaron?
“I am so proud of the relationship between Robert and Aaron,” says Ryan. “People really took to it, which is a massive compliment to us. It is enormous people supported it so warmly, and we are excited where it could move forward.
“But there are a lot of obstacles in the way…Lots of things are going to happen!”
Emmerdale airs every weekday on ITV1 and STV1 at 7.30pm. Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
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