Emmerdale star John Middleton 'joins' Hollyoaks in villainous role
John Middleton is joining Hollyoaks as the father of late gangster Fraser Black.
Former Emmerdale star John Middleton is joining Hollyoaks and is set to rock the village.
The 77-year-old actor departed the ITV soap in 2017 when his character Ashley Thomas was killed off following a battle dementia.
He appeared as the village's vicar from 1996 to 2017, and made a brief return in 2018 for two episodes.
He is now set to play the father of late gangster Fraser Black (Jesse Birdsall) - whose crimes include murder, human trafficking, drug dealing, and extortion - on the rival Channel 4 soap.
Fraser Jnr was shot dead in an explosive whodunnit storyline with his killer turning out to be Freddie Roscoe, his stepson, who acted to protect his family.
A source told The Sun newspaper of Ashley's casting: “People usually think of Ashley when they see John but that won’t be happening any more, Fraser is about as far away to the kindly vicar you can get.
“He’s possibly the most evil character Hollyoaks has ever had - and for a village plagued by serial killers, that’s saying something.
“Fraser will make his entrance very soon and he’s got more than one connection to the village with his twisted family already there.”
He is also grandfather to Clare Devine, Grace Black and Rex Gallagher.
The source teased: "Fraser's first meeting with Clare is explosive - it's going to be a real battle between them."
Meanwhile, Clare Devine is set to reach boiling point when she returns to face serial killer Jez Blake in the lead up to the show's 30th anniversary.
Showrunner Hannah Cheers told the outlet: “Well, yes, obviously we’ve got two kind of Hollyoaks titans here.
“We’ve got kind of very iconic Hollyoaks faces. And it’s not an accident that they are both in the show in the run up to the 30th anniversary.”
