Emmerdale’s Danny Miller has spoken about his character Aaron Dingle’s decision to leave the village, saying that he decided to “put himself first” for once.
Speaking about his exit from Emmerdale after almost 15 years with the ITV soap, Miller said that that his final scene as Aaron was an “emotional” one for the character following the murder of his boyfriend Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon).
“The viewers will have seen Aaron finally put himself first [and] will have seen Aaron drive out the village and hear that lovely song that was a touching tribute to Aaron and Ben – Take on Me – a real sign that Ben is watching over him,” he said.
“The emotional scene is that he’s finally decided to put himself first for pretty much the first time in his life. He was very close to turning the anger on himself again and he really didn’t want to go back that way.
“So he finally decides that he’s going to have a fresh break, get out there, see the world again and go meet Adam [Barton] in France and get a bit of normality in his life.”
Miller, who is currently taking part in this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity, added that he found filming his final scenes with Isobel Steele, who plays Aaron’s half-sister Liv Flaherty, really difficult.
“I’ve never had to play a scene where my emotions were really there. I knew that was my final goodbye to Izzy for however long,” he explained.
“It was really hard to play in terms of the emotions there and Danny, as well as Aaron, wanted to break down but he just had to hold it together because he needed to be strong until he got out of the room.
“It was emotional moment for him to not to be able to look her in the eye and say, ‘I’m going to look after myself.’ He can’t do it anymore and she can’t categorically say she didn’t kill [Ben].”
As for whether Miller may return to Emmerdale in the future, he said that it’s nice to know that the door has been “left open” for him.
He added: “You never know in three years’ time I might have five kids and be skint!”