Emmerdale star Danny Miller talks about the last 12 months in which he’s become one of TV’s hottest new actors, and what’s next for Aaron... Did you always want to act? “No, I always wanted to be a policeman. I’d grown-up watching police chases and stuff on TV and that was my goal. But then our drama teacher was sick and we got a supply teacher who’d gone for an audition on Corrie. He pulled me back after class and persuaded me to join his friend’s casting agency.” You appeared in Grange Hill in 2005, but after that, work seem to dry up. Was it hard? “I was working for my uncle who was in insurance at the time. I was in customer services, but I never saw it as a job for life. But going to all these auditions and getting knocked back was depressing me. I told my agent that the Emmerdale job was the last one I was going for. I could never have imagined how life-changing that audition would be.” But look at you now? “Yes it is strange. I was asked to switch on this year’s Christmas lights at Leeds’ White Rose centre and there must have been about 7,000 people there. I walked in and I actually felt like I was a rock star or something. It was unbelievable. Overwhelming.” Do you get much fan mail? “I get a lot of 15 and 16 year old girls interested in me. And gay men. One guy wrote to me on Twitter. He said he’d come out because of Aaron and told me that he’d just got a price for having a tattoo of my face on his leg. I didn’t know what to make of that, really.” How much do you owe the show’s producer Gavin Blyth? “Loads. Gavin said to me one day 'I’ve been watching Aaron with Victoria and Holly and I know why he’s like this. He’s gay. What do you think?' He said that if I didn’t want to do it, they wouldn’t go with it, but it was too good an opportunity to throw away.” It certainly has been a huge journey for the character? “Yes, immense and there’s a long way to go yet. Just as he’s got his head around the idea of being gay and having a boyfriend, he finds out that Jackson will never walk again. He blames himself for what happened. Now he has to learn to be an adult, be there for somebody and deal with it, which he’s finds hard. Part of him wants to run away because he knows that nothing will be the same again with Jackson. Not just sexually. They won’t be able to go out and have a meal together and do things other couples do. And without sounding corny, you ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s going to be an amazing 2011 for Aaron. He’s faced with the biggest choice of his life.” Off screen you live with Ryan Thomas, who plays Adam, and date Kirsty Leigh Porter who plays Holly's pal Roz. How is that? “Our flat used to be a typical bachelor pad. A mess from top to bottom. But since I’ve been with Kirsty, it’s a bit cosier. It’s great having friends and a girlfriend who understand your job. Before, I found it hard to meet girls because they thought I was using my job as an excuse not to meet up with them. But when I say to Kirsty 'We’re running two hours late' she understands that it’s what happens on a soap. I am very happy with Kirsty. This is the most serious relationship I’ve ever had and the most enjoyable. I get on with Kirsty as though she’s my best friend. I think that’s what made me fall so quickly for her.” And what about your family. How are they coping with your fame? “We are a very close knit family and they would certainly bring me down if I got too big-headed. I am ashamed to say I do take my laundry home as I still haven’t worked out how to use the washing machine in our flat. And I’m really looking forward to Christmas as it means I can spend some time alone with my family. I’ll be spending it between my family and Kirsty’s.”
