Emmerdale star Michael Parr has broken his silence on the upcoming Barton twist, which will see a new family member joining the ranks.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Heartstopper‘s Bradley Riches would be arriving in the Dales, with his character later being confirmed as Lewis Barton. Lewis’ story will begin when he builds up the courage to contact his estranged brother Ross Barton (Parr) to find out more about his family.

Speaking about the upcoming twist, Michael explained that his character will deal with the situation “in a very Ross Barton way”, adding that his reaction is “not great”.

“It’s quite overwhelming for Ross because it brings up so many bad memories. There’s so many secrets, and having to tell somebody who’s glorified this mother figure in their life that she was actually bonkers, it’s not great,” he teased.

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“There’s lots of secrets there and Ross doesn’t know what to give away, so his walls go up and he reacts in his usual cantankerous way.”

The star addressed Ross’ difficult family dynamics and his reluctance to let people in, after suffering many losses over the years. However, he noted Lewis’ “infectious” nature which will help the pair bond.

“There’s so many similarities between this character and Finn that he puts his walls up because he can’t emotionally afford to lose anybody else. It takes a little while for Ross to let his guard down.

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“But you’ll see that the character is quite infectious and it’s hard for Ross to say no to him because he is very pure and it reminds him of Finn. It’s been nice for Ross to have somebody on his side, because he was starting to think that he was the touch of death. Everybody he gets close to seems to get killed off. He’s lost two girlfriends, four family members and he’s had a lot of unlucky situations.”

Michael went on to praise his new co-star, calling Bradley a “breath of fresh air” on set. “He reminds me so much of working with Verity [Rushworth] and how well we get on,” said the actor.

“It was an instant click. He’s been such an important part of the show for cast morale in the building but also bringing a new generation of audience members into the show.”