Dales' John begged to keep beard

Emmerdale star John Middleton has revealed he begged soap bosses to let him keep his beard.

His character, vicar Ashley Thomas became homeless after suffering a nervous breakdown. And even now Ashley is starting to sort out his life again, John wants to keep the beard he grew for the storyline.

He told Inside Soap magazine: "Everyone keeps saying, 'John, that really suits you!'.

"For a while my wife said nothing, but I confronted her about it recently and she said, 'I've watched it grow, and I suppose it's grown on me as well'. It's been great for me, though.

"I begged the Emmerdale bosses to let me keep it, and so far they've said I can!"

The actor also revealed he was already feeling nervous ahead of Emmerdale's 40th anniversary episode.

He said: "As you know, we're doing a live episode, and we're approaching it with trepidation! If anything goes wrong on set these days, people just turn round and go, "I've got two words for you - 'live episode'!

"We don't know what's going to happen, but we've had various hints. It's terribly exciting."