Emmerdale star Ryan Hawley has revealed viewers are very supportive of his villainous alter-ego, Robert Sugden.
Married Robert has shown his dark colours following his involvement in Katie Sugden’s death in February and has made attempts on Chas Dingle and Paddy Kirk’s lives after they both threatened to expose his secret affair with Aaron Livesy (Danny Miller).
Robert and Aaron (Amy Brammall/ITV)
The actor said he has yet to receive any negative comments from fans, saying on ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I’m not 100 per cent sure why everyone’s so positive about it, but it’s a fantastic thing to have such a following and a fanbase.
“When you come into a show you can be a bit nervous about things, so it’s lovely to have that support. Sometimes a few people say things [on the street], but it’s all kind of light-hearted and it’s all positive for the majority of it.
“Maybe I’m tempting fate here, but no one’s ever come up to me and attacked me in the street – and I hope they don’t! But everyone’s very supportive and very complimentary usually.”
Emmerdale viewers will see Aaron try to take revenge against his lover this week, after finding out about his attempt to kill Paddy (Dominic Brunt).
Paddy gets shot by Robert (Amy Brammall/ITV)
“Aaron is now convinced that Robert had some more involvement in Katie’s death than what he’s told him,” Ryan explained.
“So Aaron hatches this plan to get Robert alone in isolation and get a confession out of him that he can record and take to the police, and finally make Robert pay for all the nasty things he’s been doing.”
The actor teased: “I can’t really tell you where that all goes, but Robert’s going to be faced with a dilemma where he has to either let Aaron reveal his secret affair to everyone in the village, or he’s going to have to take drastic action.”
