Emmerdale’s Ross Barton has been through a lot in his life. As Michael Parr, the actor who plays him, told us, ‘Due to his rough start in life, being on the run, his relationship with his dad, his brother, his mum and dad and his girlfriend dying, he has suffered a lot of trauma.’
Since his recent return to the village Ross has never been far away from trouble, as we were re-introduced to him as Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle)’s opponent in an illegal bare-knuckle boxing match.
Ross is a tough character who has faced many dangerous challenges, but he’s about to be faced with the biggest test yet, when someone who’s very close to his heart has her life in danger.
After Ross and Billy’s last boxing match was raided by the police and broken up, £10k of the betting money went missing.
Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb) currently has his hands on it, but ruthless fight promoter Jade (Twinnie-Lee Moore) believes only one man is responsible – Ross.
Jade has already made threats against Billy’s family to force him to fight, and she uses the same tactic with Ross, telling him that unless she gets her money back she’ll go after his son Moses (Arthur Cockroft) and Moses’ mum Charity (Emma Atkins).
Another person who is under threat is April Windsor (Amelia Flanagan). Although she isn’t Ross’s daughter, she is the daughter of Donna Windsor (Verity Rushworth), Ross’s former girlfriend and someone he cared about deeply.
And it’s April who Jade targets when she offers the unsuspecting teen a lift into town. From there she’s taken to a car park, which April doesn’t know is the location where Donna fell to her death in 2014.
Of course Ross knows this as he witnessed the tragic event, so when he gets a video message from Jade saying she’s kidnapped April and sees the location, he’s filled with dread.
Borrowing Billy’s car he heads to the scene, not sure of what he’s going to find when he gets there. As he arrives his worst fears are confirmed – one of Jade’s accomplices is holding a distraught April perilously close to the edge of the high car park.
‘It’s hugely traumatic for him. It brings back the worst memories,’ Mike Parr explained. ‘Obviously when there’s a kid on the line, Ross has a great connection with her, due to her being Donna’s daughter. It’s very stressful.’
Can Ross do anything to help April?
