Emmerdale actor Michael Parr shares his thoughts on making a comeback

His alter-ego Ross Barton has reappeared on screen.

Michael Parr has made his return to Emmerdale as Ross Barton, catching fans off guard with his appearance in tonight’s episode (28 October).

While the news of Ross’s return was announced last month, the show kept the details of his reappearance under wraps, leading to an unexpected reveal tonight as Ross prepared to face off against Billy Fletcher in an underground boxing match.

Below, Parr discusses his return to the ITV soap, giving an insight into how it came about and the current state of play regarding his character.

How did your return to Emmerdale come about? Were you expecting it?

It wasn’t necessarily a shock. The acting industry had been quite quiet due to the writer strikes and stuff, and I had some work on the horizon. So when they called, it came at a great time. But it also meant that I had some big decisions to make because I couldn’t do both of the jobs. But ultimately, Emmerdale felt like home, and it was a good storyline which they pitched to me. Laura Shaw, our producer, she’s very charming, and she put it all out to me, like, this is where we want it to go. This is what we want to do. It meant that I got to move back up north again. It just came at the right time.

What is it that brings Ross back to the village?

Ross is an unsavoury character, and it’s always going to be a bit of trouble when he comes back. But Billy gets himself involved in some unlicensed Bare-Knuckle boxing, and this is where Ross Barton makes his return.

How has Ross got involved in it all?

I don’t think we’re actually going to give away just yet why he’s in the predicament that he is. But Ross is a very feckless character, and he’s always got an eye open for a quick buck, and there’s money to be made in this Bare Knuckle thing. And I also have to think about somebody with the psyche of Ross, somebody who’s lost his mum, lost his dad, lost his brother. What kind of mind frame are you in when you’ve lost all those people? So it’s all going to be revealed, but you just see him make his entrance being quite a prominent figure in the underground boxing world, and this is where he meets his match in Billy.

What does he think of Billy? Because obviously, Ross also has a past connection to Billy’s wife Dawn…

Well, yeah, there’s always going to be a rivalry if there’s a potential love interest in the middle of it all. But Billy is quite a tall, athletic, handsome lad. You know, Ross has met his match. Obviously it’s a young man’s sport, so I think you’ll find that Ross is maybe not in the same position that he was in last time. He’s much older. He’s been through a lot more trauma. So it’s about developing an understanding, can he still do this anymore? He’s really met his match because Billy’s much younger and more athletic than Ross is.

Do we find out much about what Ross has been up to while he was away from Emmerdale?

All will be revealed the week after, you’ll find out where he’s been, who he’s still in touch with, and what’s been going on in his life. But I don’t want to give anything away just yet.

We have seen on screen that he has been seeing his son, Moses, regularly. Do you think Ross wants to be a good dad to Moses?

He wants to be in his son’s life, but because Ross had such an inauspicious start in life with his mum – I don’t know if you remember, we did the storyline where it turned out that she basically tried to kill Ross when he was a child. So he’s just riddled with traumas, and Ross is the kind of person who can’t get out of his own way. And there’s a Frederick Nietzsche quote “Under peaceful conditions the warlike man will attack himself”. And I think that’s really Ross’ mind frame. He can’t handle quiet times because he’s just such a traumatized person that he’s always looking for conflict because he doesn’t know how to handle peace.

What’s his relationship with Charity like at this point? Because they’ve been co-parenting all this time.

I think she’s definitely softened. She doesn’t seem to be the troublemaker that she was. I know that that could change at any minute, but he’s grateful to her for doing such a good job with Moses. And you really can’t hate somebody who’s doing a great job of raising your most beloved possession. But it’s Ross, and it’s Charity. There’s always going to be fireworks. They’ve got the history, but is there still a spark there? And does Ross want to rekindle? Or is he just doing it because there’s a stepfather role in Moses’ life now, and that is obviously not going to play well with Ross.

What about him and Mack? How do they get on when they first meet?

Oh, well, it’s like when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. I think it’s going to be one of those. I think they’re going to definitely clash and fight over the affections of Moses.

Ross still has family in the village. He’s got Moira, he’s got Matty. How is he going to react to seeing them?

He left on a good note with Moira. I think because they had both tried to kill his mum, so they had things in common! And she’d always been somebody who looked out for Ross. And my relationship with Nat [J Robb] is amazing. I love that woman. She’s been so maternal to me. She’s not changed at all. But she’s got her own storylines going on, so she’s busy with that. It’s going be nice to have them on screen again, and I hope that there’s a lot more work down the line, because I really love working with Nat.

Is there anyone in particular you were looking forward to catching up with?

Well, I have a real soft spot for Jeff Hordley [Cain], I bump into him once a year, and it’s always at Glastonbury. He’s such a music head, and I pretend that I’m a music head. I love hearing him talk about his music. I just nod my head and pretend I know what he’s talking about, because, to be honest, I like old rap music, and I haven’t really evolved with the times. But he’s a good person to talk to and find out what’s cool at the minute. But everybody here, it’s been so amazing to just see people and hear their life story. It’s been so nice to rekindle with people and hear people’s stories and find out what’s going on – and tell them all of my stories as well.

They’re pretty intense scenes, did you have to get in shape before filming began?

Going to the gym and martial arts is one of my favourite pastimes. It’s something that I do a couple of times a week to keep my mental health on track and my body in shape. The filming days were long and we were on our feet doing the same movements over and over and at points we did get tired. I did find it beneficial that I was used to exercising in my spare time.

You looked very professional during the scenes. Have you trained in the martial arts etc?

I’m very lucky that I’ve done martial arts since I was 19. I’m a big UFC fan, that’s my favourite sport to watch. But yes, I think my martial arts training has come in handy for Ross’ scenes.

We’ve been able to follow your fitness journey online. Can you briefly tell us about that and your recovery from your injury?

I do like sports and I am quite competitive. There’s always been a reason to get down to the gym and train. I played football when I was young, then basketball in my college years and then I turned my hand to martial arts so I’ve always had a hand in sports. I never took it too seriously as I knew it wasn’t going to be the career path for me. Drama was always my first love but it’s been fortunate that I’ve liked both because it’s really helped me in my career. A lot of the jobs that I have got is because I’ve been able to do the movement and sell the fighting scenes. I have had some quite bad injuries over the years, I’ve broken hands, I’ve broken my ankle, I’ve damaged my sciatic nerve in my back which has been something that has plagued me over the years and stopped me training the way I liked to for a while. But I like to just go to the gym and lift some weights and do something challenging. I think it helps set me up for the day, it makes me feel accomplished and it gets the endorphins going. I think it’s very important to look after your body.