Lewis Barton arrived earlier this year (Picture: ITV)
Emmerdale’s Bradley Riches has opened up about his role in the ITV soap, and how he came very close to playing another character.
Bradley’s soap alter ego Lewis Barton arrived in the village earlier this year. Prior to this, he wrote a letter to Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb) and Ross Barton (Michael Parr), explaining that he’s Emma Barton’s secret son.
Ross met with Lewis, but he became overwhelmed by his constant questioning about Emma and the life she lived in Emmerdale. Lewis had no idea of Emma’s villainous reign and how Moira killed her, and Ross was keen to keep him in the dark.
But as time ticked on, Lewis began to realise that his new brother was hiding something from him. He eventually worked out that he was keeping a secret about Emma, and then discovered that Moira pushed her from a viaduct.
Lewis initially wanted to go to the police, but defensive Ross pointed out that the police probably wouldn’t believe him. He went on to say that even if they grew curious about his claims regarding Moira, he would tell the police that his sibling was growing cannabis.
Bradley Riches is autistic, just like his character (Picture: ITV)
The character is Ross Barton’s brother (Picture: ITV)
Lewis temporarily left the village after this falling out with Ross, but returned when his landlord threw him out for growing weed. The siblings then moved into Tall Trees together, and are now living with Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) at Dale View.
Bradley Riches’ character is autistic. We’ve seen Lewis open up about this a handful of times so far, but is going to do so a little more this week, as he struggles in the aftermath of a housewarming party.
Opening up about his time on the ITV soap so far, Bradley is incredibly proud to be playing Lewis, and helping raise awareness of neurodivergence.
‘There was never anyone like me when I was growing up on TV and I hope by exploring this character more, we can kill of misconceptions that being autistic is negative. It isn’t.
Bradley is also known for his role in Netflix’s Heartstopper (Picture: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
‘Like Lewis, I am autistic and I didn’t go to school until I was nine when I got my diagnosis. Up until then, I was in my own little bubble at home playing with Lego and communicating via cards on the wall. If I wanted a different pair of socks, for instance, I would whack the socks on the wall’, he said in a chat with the Mirror.
‘My way of communicating would be to tap things through sounds, actions or by pointing to colours. Now when I look back on how I did not speak, I think what was going through my brain was the fact I was comfortable in my home setting. I thought it was normal in the way I communicated.’
Bradley went on to confirm that things could’ve been entirely different for him at the soap, as his first audition wasn’t actually for Lewis Barton.
Fred Kettle plays Dylan Penders (Picture: ITV)
‘She [the show’s casting director] rang me to invite me to audition for the role of Dylan, but I was going panto and the schedule didn’t work. Shortly after that, they asked me to audition for Lewis’.
‘Lewis is a people’s person and comes across as happy. But not everything is as it seems and we are going to explore this more in the soap. It does make me very proud to play Lewis and I like to bring a bit of me to the character to educate people who may never have been exposed to an autistic person before.
‘Having him on screen is a really cool thing to be part of.’
A few days ago, criminal Kev Townsend (Chris Coghill) was speaking to Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson) about a one-night stand he had, which resulted in the birth of his son.
Kev confirmed that he slept with a woman called Emma, and remains oblivious at the moment that his child is Lewis.
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