Actor John Middleton has revealed that members of Emmerdale's crew were in floods of tears on the day he filmed his final scenes as dementia sufferer, vicar Ashley Thomas.
Warning: Spoiler alert for an upcoming episode of Emmerdale.
The soap star's character Ashley suffers from stroke-related early onset vascular dementia, and viewers will soon see him leave his care facility and return home to die among his loved ones.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Middleton, who has appeared in the soap since 1996, said of filming the emotional scenes: "On the day we filmed Ashley's death, Charlotte (Bellamy) and I rehearsed it a few times before we did the take.
"And as costume and make-up came on to do their checks, they were all crying. To the point where their tears were dripping down onto my face."
The 63-year-old actor went on to explain that it was "very hard" to say goodbye to Ashley.
"There was this huge hit-you-over-the-head feeling of, 'that's it. It's done'," he said.
"I'm institutionalised in ways I'm only now starting to understand. Almost 80% of the time is spent having a chat with friends and I haven't got that anymore.
"I keep storing up information for conversations at work and then realise that the only person I'll be sharing that with is my dog."
This must be so hard for Laurel! 😢 #Emmerdale pic.twitter.com/GmKx6NgCGI
— Emmerdale (@emmerdale) March 27, 2017
Middleton added that he hopes his storyline as the dementia-stricken vicar will draw public attention to the issue.
"My hope is that Emmerdale has at least been able to embed the issue of dementia into the public's consciousness," he said.
"We're all guilty of looking the other way, but we ignore this at our cost. It could well happen to each and every one of us.
"It's possible that we could find a cure, but we need more money going into research to turn that possibility into a probability.
"The good news is that we're all living longer, but because of that, we're more likely to die of this disease. And there's no point in living longer if we can't live well."
Ashley's been found! But he's getting worse...💔 #Emmerdale pic.twitter.com/0GOD9gp6nQ
— Emmerdale (@emmerdale) March 24, 2017
Emmerdale broke new ground in December last year by filming an entire episode through Ashley's eyes to show his confused point of view.
Middleton said: "It had never been done before and we weren't sure the audience would get it. But they did.
"And now that episode is being used as a training video by the Alzheimer's Society, so that people can see how bewildering the condition can be."
