Emmerdale has seen stars from other soaps joining the series and even leaving for a different one. Among Emmerdale stars to have been in other soaps include Claire King, who went to Coronation Street before coming back to the Dales. Rhona Goskirk star Zoe Henry has proved a triple threat with her roles in EastEnders, Coronation Street and EastEnders. So could another actor be following suit and joining Emmerdale?
Express.co.uk spoke exclusively to actor Adam Astill – who played Luke Browning in EastEnders and Dominic Saul in Coronation Street – who revealed whether he’d join Emmerdale.
“That’s my last one to tick off,” he said, going on to add: “That’s what my target is, so yes. A nice, juicy role on Emmerdale then I’ll have done them all.”
He continued: “Definitely, yeah. I find continuing drama fascinating because you get to develop a character in real time and you’re able to play out these storylines over weeks, sometimes months but in a series that happens in the first episode.”
On how soaps compared to TV shows and films, he explained: “You have to make certain decisions to give the character three dimensions, hopefully, but you’ve got time to do over a few episodes. You’re making discoveries. It’s a strange timeframe.
“At the same time, as long as [character development] needs to be. It doesn’t have to fit within the 59 minutes or 45 minutes or half an hour sometimes that continuing drama are constrained by.”
He added: “So you can let scenes play out. You’re not thinking, ‘Well, that’s nice but we need to crack on to the next scene.”
Along with the main soaps, Astill also played orthopaedic surgeon Dan Hamilton on Casualty spin-off Holby City. He was on the drama from 2011 to 2012.
Astill is now starring in the independent film Rupert, Rupert & Rupert which focuses on an actor called Rupert (played by Sandy Batchelor), who is suffering from angry outbursts which are hampering him during auditions.
Rupert is seeking help from psychotherapist Angus (Astil), who is trying to treat the outbursts.
However, things take a turn for the better when Rupert’s anger actually works to his advantage and he’s cast in the play The Fatal Blasphemy of Jeremiah Ulysses’s Boundless Rage.
Although Rupert is glad to get the role, Angus is worried about keeping the disorder in check and how the actor will be able to cope with the pressure of the play without losing control.
“There was less medical terminology. Far from being a psychotherapist, I’m just an actor trying to play one, who is a fair representation of what happens,” Astill said.
“Like Holby City, the process is massively condensed. What happens in the film over the course of a few weeks, whereas the process of that therapy would take months, probably years.
“Similarly in a surgery scene, at Holby General you’ve got 15 minutes to do a heart transplant and those procedures take many, many hours.
“So you have some artistic licence in that respect. Fortunately, slightly less medical terminology to get my head and my lips around.”
Astill did a fair amount of research as he prepared to take on the role of Angus, speaking to a psychoanalyst consultant about how to play the character, who is not just a traditional therapist but also analysed body language.
“I was able to hopefully create an interesting and three-dimensional character,” he said.
Rupert, Rupert & Rupert is available on digital and in select cinemas now
Emmerdale continues on ITV tonight at 7pm
