“One night I walked away with four awards – or maybe that should be three and a half, because one of them was shared between me and Charley Webb [Debbie],” recalls Emmerdale star Michael Parr, reflecting on his favourite memories of the Inside Soap Awards.

In fact, Mike holds the joint record for winning the most trophies in one year (alongside EastEnders star Shane Richie, aka Alfie Moon, who picked up four in 2003), with Emmerdale picking up the coveted Best Soap Award that same night in 2015.

Here, Mike reflects on his trophy haul, as well as his hopes of bagging another gong as we launch this year’s voting…

ITV

Hi Mike! How does it feel to have won the most awards in one single year?

“I try not to think about it too much – I never want this job to be about winning awards and accolades. Ultimately, it’s not why I got into acting.

“But it’s always lovely, and Inside Soap has always been very kind to me. The audience really seems to like Ross, so to get Best Actor was really special.”

You share your ‘most awards in one night’ accolade with Shane Richie…

“I remember Shane coming on screen as Alfie Moon, and that whole family going into EastEnders. He was a star before he came into soap, so it’s an honour just to be mentioned alongside his name.

“Hopefully I can try to go for more awards this year so I can say I’m the one who holds the title…”

Well, we can exclusively reveal that you’re nominated for Best Comic Performance this year. How do you feel about that?

“I love it when I bump into people and they say, ‘You’re funny’, or, ‘You make us laugh’. That actually now means more to me than winning Best Actor – because that usually means you’ve done a lot of heightened crying! That seems to be the general rule for acting awards.

“The older I get, the more I want to put a smile on people’s faces and make them forget their worries and troubles for a little bit. So I’d really like to win an award for comedy.”

Inside Soap

Where do you keep your trophies?

“All my awards are in the cabinet at work, along with the other trophies Emmerdale has won. I remember the night I won four awards, I was flying to San Francisco early the next morning, so someone took them back to work for me and they were locked away in the glass display cabinet, which is huge.

“The thing is it’s not just an award for Mike, it’s for the writers, the producers, everyone working at Emmerdale. I’m just the face!”

Finally, what are your favourite memories of attending the Inside Soap Awards?

“My favourite bit is always the after party – once the awards are out of the way, we’ll get on the piano and there’s singing and dancing. My musical theatre side comes out and I break into song, so that’s always a lovely time!

“Plus, when you do win you get to thank people, and it’s nice to be able to mention a few names of people you appreciate and are grateful to.”