It comes following Mike Parr’s own comeback in the Dales as Ross Barton

Emmerdale star Mike Parr has been discussing his co-star return hopes following his own comeback in the Dales. Fans were delighted back in September when it was confirmed that Ross Barton would be returning to the village – and played by the same actor.

Emmerdale viewers will recall that Ross left the village alongside Rebecca White for a new life in Liverpool back in 2018 after five years in the village. He was then seen back on-screens at the start of November as it was revealed he was part of the illegal boxing ring Billy Fletcher found himself wrapped up in.

And as expected, his return to the village has ruffled the feathers of a number of people in the village, none more so than Mackenzie Boyd as he gets between his cosy family life with wife Charity Dingle because of Charity and Ross’ link through their son, Moses.

But Mike has now revealed who he would like to see return to the soap. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News and other press, he started by mentioning Anthony Quinlan, who played Ross’ brother Pete from 2013 to 2020.

He started by saying: “I love working with Natalie J Robb [Moira DIngle], that’s always fun. Everybody, really. I was just excited to be back. It’s different now because the Bartons are thin on the ground in terms of numbers. I’ve got no Quinny [Anthony] backing me up.

“Quinny played Pete Barton, my older brother and he’s just like my older brother in real life. We don’t see each other as much as we used to but we’re still in touch.”

Mike later added: “I’d love Quinny back. Because Quinny had done Hollyoaks and stuff before, Quinny’s not that much older than me but he felt older as soon as he got here because he’d kind of walked the walk with the soaps stuff and being on TV. He really showed me and Joe [Gill] the ropes. There were so many things we didn’t know what to do and how to handle and Quinny is like a lovely, soft, fun person to be around. So I would love it.”

But the soap star is also planning a possible future storyline for his character, telling us: “There was this mythological Barton character called Nana Barton and I would love it – this is not happening but Sue Johnson, please come to Emmerdale. It would be my dream to work with you after watching you for so many years on Brookside and The Royle Family and stuff. I think she’s probably busy getting offers left, right and centre but if I could cast anybody to play a character that hasn’t been in the show – evil Nana Barton. Or maybe not evil – maybe she’s lovely!”

And Mike will put himself in the good books with his other suggestion of a return. “The fan favourite is going to be Robert Sugden, isn’t it?” he said when asked who else he’d like to see back. “I would love to bring him back just to satisfy the audience because I see how thirsty they are for Ryan Hawley’s return.” He added: “He’s a lot of fun to work with and when Robert and Danny [Miller] were together, they made a good villain for Ross to go against. Bring him back.”

But that wasn’t all. Mike had one more return hope to share, which was Liz Estensen, who played Diane Sugden. Diane left the village for a life in Portugal, where she now resides with daughter Bernice Blackstock. He asked: “What happened to Liz Estensen? I would love to work with her just because I’ve never worked with anybody so much who – when you’re acting and the scenes are going well some people are more giggly than anyone. But she was like the biggest giggler that I’ve ever worked with.”