Emmerdale spoilers follow.
Emmerdale star Ryan Hawley has defended the twist involving his character Robert Sugden, which has seen him omit key details about his relationship status. Next week’s “explosive scenes” will see Aaron Dingle uncover the truth about Robert’s secret husband – how will he cope?
Fan-favourite couple Aaron and Robert recently got back together following the revelations about John Sugden, though it was soon revealed that Robert had a secret husband named Kev, who he married in prison.
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With Kev out of prison and living in the village, it’s not too long before the secret is exposed – and in next week’s shocking scenes, a disgusted Aaron will catch Robert and Kev sharing a kiss.
Asked how he thinks the viewers will feel about this drama for Robron, Hawley defended the new storyline, saying it would be “boring” if Robert and Aaron got back together without controversy.
“It would be pretty boring if it was just plain sailing,” said the actor. “Everyone would get bored after five or 10 minutes. There has to be some kind of conflict and obstacles for the characters to overcome to test their relationship and see them triumph against adversity.”
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Teasing fans with what’s to come, Hawley described Kev as “very different and volatile” as well as a “big obstacle”, before adding that he was a “massive spanner in the works”.
Comparing Kev to John, Hawley said that Kev is dangerous in a different way to the deadly doctor, saying he is “unhinged and unpredictable” but in a “reactionary kind of way”.
“He’s something very different. He’s redeemable – you kind of feel sorry for him. You don’t want to break his heart. Robert doesn’t want to betray Kev – [he] has deep feelings for him that aren’t just of gratitude; they’re very complicated.”
On what it feels like to have such a huge twist thrown into the mix, Hawley said: “It’s a completely different obstacle to anything else the couple have had. Kev is a really big obstacle in the sense that he is a very loveable, damaged and broken character.”
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Describing Kev and Robert’s dynamic as something “we haven’t seen before”, Hawley said the show will take a look at “the back story to the relationship between Robert and him that you’re going to see played out”.
Asked why Robert is keeping Kev a secret from Aaron, the soap actor said: “Robert does try to tell him, he tries to tell him several times.”
Citing Aaron’s relationship with the murderous John, Hawley said that Aaron “is in a very fragile place” so Robert is “not able” to tell him the truth because “of everything else Aaron’s got going on”.
Elsewhere in the interview, Hawley opened up about what to expect from next week’s dramatic scenes, saying: “It’s going to be explosive.”
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“Aaron thinks he and Robert are on the path that they both think they were always intended to be on, all the drama’s behind them, there’s no John any more and they can carry on their lives as they both hope and plan to do.”
“Then out of nowhere there’s this guy who turns up and he’s his old cell mate, and the next thing he sees is them kissing round the back of the Woolpack,” he continued.
“So not only has he been lied to after everything else that’s happened, Robert’s half brother has also lied to him, so it’s a lot for Aaron to take in.”
Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
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