Emmerdale’s Jonathan Wrather would have refused to take part in the show’s shocking domestic abuse storyline if his children were a little bit older than they are now.
The 48-year-old actor’s alter-ego Pierce Harris has become one of the nation’s most hated soap baddies after he brutally raped his wife Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry) on their wedding night earlier this year and, although the star has received a heap of praise for his portrayal of the twisted lawyer, he would have thought twice about accepting the role if his kids – who are seven months old and two years old – could understand.
Speaking on ‘Loose Women’ on Thursday (13.07.17), he said when asked if he would have thought twice about the storyline if his young kids were older: "It is a tricky one … Probably, I think I would have thought about it differently."
And, although he found the scenes tough, he felt proud that bosses trusted him with such a gruesome story and he wanted to make sure he done all victims justice.
He explained: "I felt like we were being gifted in a sense, this storyline because it’s a complex story and it’s challenging … SO much research went into that and we tried to portray it as truthfully as possible …
"We had a responsibility and we’ve had an incredible response – people who have written in, some extraordinary courageous people who have said: ‘After watching the scenes this evening, I was able to speak out and thankfully I am now divorced.’ "
Some of the scenes were tough for him to shoot but he has admitted the cast try and have as much fun on set as possible so that it doesn’t affect them on a personal level.
He added: "Yeah it puts me in a dark place to a degree but you separate one from the other quite easily and we do have a lot of fun on set as well …"
Emmerdale’s Jonathan Wrather’s second thoughts
