From Emmerdale vicar to Hollyoaks villain – John Middleton on his surprising soap return

The granddad of devilish Clare Devine, glamorous gangster Grace Black and roguish Rex Gallagher, as well as being the father of feared Fraser Black Junior (RIP), Froggy joins one of Hollyoaks’ most notorious clans and might just be the nastiest of the lot – you couldn’t get any further away from Reverend Thomas if you tried.

“It was a great attraction that Froggy is a total contrast to Ashley,” begins Middleton, speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com as his first Hollyoaks scenes air.

“People have said it would be good to see me in a different light after playing the same role for 21 years, when this opportunity came along my agent and myself were very keen. It’s totally different to anything I’ve done before.

“Ashley was the pillar of the community, an upright person, and before him I’d played numerous clerical, medical and professional types. Now I’m a moral degenerate descending on Hollyoaks!”

We first meet Froggy in prison, fittingly, where he rules the roost on the same wing where Tom Cunningham is doing time. Froggy is a career criminal who has been inside for decades, and as a visit from estranged granddaughter Clare teases, his relationship with the family is somewhat fractured.

“Froggy is top dog, people live in fear of him. At the same time, he is also quite well read and bookish, and runs the prison library! He’s been locked up for 21 years, one imagines he’s done something heinous.

“He’s a seriously bad character, but there is a something in his family’s past he feels guilty about – he should’ve intervened but he didn’t. Froggy feels terribly vindictive towards Clare, as it emerges she and her father, Froggy’s son Fraser, conspired together to get Froggy out of the picture many years ago.”

His arrival comes at a point where Hollyoaks is delving even further into the brilliantly bonkers backstory of the Blacks – only recently did we learn Grace had a baby as a teenager who she believed had died, but as it transpires is actually still alive. Conniving Clare appears to know more than she’s letting on, but does she genuinely want to help her sister reunite with her long-lost child or is there an ulterior motive?

“Froggy is much closer to Grace and wants to reconnect with her, which is connected to the guilt he feels about a situation that has taken place,” explains Middleton, who confesses he’s still getting to grips with the complex story so far of his on-screen brood.

“All will be revealed soon! He meets Rex in prison and tells him he’s his grandfather. Going forward, Froggy’s driving wish is to get his family back together. Once they’re all reunited, who knows what sort of power they would all wield?”

Eight years on from his lengthy Emmerdale tenure, Middleton is delighted to be back in the world of continuing drama. He’s already familiar with the fast pace, the hectic schedule, and some of the cast.

“James Sutton (who plays John Paul McQueen) was in Emmerdale for years (as Ryan Lamb), it’s great to see him again. I met Louis Emerick (Donny Clark) years ago when we did a celebrity edition of Stars in Their Eyes. I think he was Lionel Richie, Charlotte Bellamy (who played Ashley’s wife Laurel in Emmerdale) and I were Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly performing True Love. I hesitate to mention it because Charlotte and I were both traumatised and barely talk about it. Never mind nerves – that was naked fear!

“Everybody has been very welcoming at Hollyoaks, I’ve been bowled over. Gemma Bissix and Tamara Wall, who play my granddaughters Clare and Grace, are wonderful to work with and have been so generous. They’re used to playing characters who are threatening and intimidating, now they’re intimidated by me, which gives me the space to establish Froggy. He really shakes up the Blacks’ dynamics, he knows things about their past they’d rather he didn’t.”

Middleton has been acting for over 35 years, and even before finding fame in Emmerdale had notched up guest roles across the soaps. The genre is practically in his blood.

“I did lots of what I used to call ‘smash-and-grabs’; you go in, do the job and come away. During the body under the patio trial in Brookside, I was on the jury; the Daily Mail described me as ‘the yuppy from hell’ because I wanted to send the Jordaches down! In Coronation Street, I was the motorist who knocked over and killed Lisa Duckworth, and I was a siege negotiator in Emmerdale – 18 months later I came back as Ashley!

“I have a lot of time for soaps. I believe in popular drama, not elitist drama. They bring incredibly important issues to the fore so people can talk about them – obviously I had the dementia story with Ashley, which still stays with me.”

Ashley’s diagnosis of vascular dementia and tragic deterioration over two years won praise from fans, critics and a slew of awards for Middleton and Bellamy’s emotive performances. It’s one of the most impactful soap storylines of recent years, and despite it leading to Middleton being written out in 2017 as Ashley succumbed to the disease, he remains proud of what it achieved.

“We did a lot of research and had to get it right; if we cheapened the story in any way it would’ve infuriated those living with the condition and their families. It had to be as realistic as possible.

“The Alzheimer’s Society gave lots of advice and approved scripts, and would occasionally have an adviser on set. I still work with them, and another charity called Dementia Forward, based in North Yorkshire, where I live. Once you walk into that issue you can’t walk away. It’s an awfully sad, cruel disease.

“We did a special episode entirely from Ashley’s point of view, so the audience could experience how the symptoms affected the way he experienced the world. Small details like the circles in Ashley’s wallpaper becoming eyes, or the back of a chair having these hideous monster faces made you realise how disturbing that sense of paranoia was for the character. It was very absorbing as an actor. Rather flatteringly, people still talk about the episode nearly 10 years later.”

Middleton is full of fondness as he reflects on Emmerdale, and cites having the late, great Freddie Jones play his on-screen father Sandy as a career highlight. Seeing Jones in a production of Play Strindberg when Middleton was dabbling in youth theatre inspired him to pursue acting as a profession.

For now, he’s immersing himself in the high-octane world of Hollyoaks, and teases big things to come not just for Froggy, but for the show in general as it hurtles towards its 30th anniversary celebrations in October.

“Froggy knows a lot about a very big character outside of the Blacks, and it’s something they would rather not be revealed. There is also an extraordinarily exciting event coming up which I can’t tell you about, other than that it is jaw-dropping. It’s going to be major and you’ll be shocked!”

Judging from what we already know about Froggy, we wouldn’t be surprised if he’s behind the upcoming carnage…

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