If Emmerdale actor Lewis Cope had followed in his family’s footsteps, he’d be slugging it out in a boxing ring. Instead he’s playing handsome nanny Nicky in the ITV soap, who last night floored viewers in a shock plot twist.
While his brothers Adam, Danny and Peter all won the Northern area title as professional fighters, Lewis chose a different career – dancing.
By the age of 11 he was appearing in one of the leading roles in Billy Elliot: The Musical in London’s West End.
For some young boys that could have led to derision but Lewis says: “I never got any stick at school – it probably helped that I had brothers in every year and that they were boxers.
“But I was also able to charm and joke with classmates, so it was never a big thing. I was very lucky, for somebody else it could have been different.”
Lewis’s story caught the eye of David Beckham, and in 2020 he asked him to be in his advert for his fragrance Bold Instinct. Lewis, from Hartlepool, recalls: “I’m from a family of 14. Most of my brothers are boxers, but I chose to dance. David used my story to encourage people to be themselves. We spent a day filming and he interviewed me; he was such a nice guy.”
Lewis later landed the role of Nicky, who arrived in Emmerdale last year to look after Thomas Tate, the grandson of Kim Tate (Claire King) and son of Gabby Thomas ( Rosie Bentham ). Last night, viewers discovered the charming, easy-going nanny hid a dark secret – he is the son of Caleb Milligan (Will Ash).
Caleb arrived in the village as Cain Dingle’s long-lost brother, but last night it emerged Caleb is also Frank Tate’s son and neither he or Nicky, are in the village by accident. Older viewers will recall how Frank had a tumultuous marriage to Kim, who cheated on him, faked her own death and got Frank wrongfully jailed for her murder.
When Frank was released and had a heart attack, she left him dying on the floor. Lewis says: “They’re there to get revenge on Kim. When I joined I didn’t know, so I’ve been playing him as a nice guy, who’s a love interest for Gabby.”
Playing a nanny is “second nature” to Lewis, in his mid-20s. As the 10th of 14 children he has 13 nieces and nephews and calls himself a “silly uncle”. He grew up playing a variety of sports before taking up dance aged 10. “My mum was really supportive,” he recalls.
A year later he landed the role of Michael, Billy Elliot’s gay best friend, in a musical about a working class boy with a passion for ballet. It featured future Spider-Man star Tom Holland.
“I moved to London on my own and lived in ‘The Billy House’, which housed all the kids from the show,” he says. “We were young kids in our first jobs but had so much fun.”
After a year Lewis moved back home and joined street dance group Ruff Diamond, runners up in Sky’s Got To Dance in 2013. At 18, Lewis went to drama school and he has appeared in Vera, Doctors and Hetty Feather.
He now lives in London with his girlfriend and maintains his physique with cross-training, running, gym work and the occasional boxing workout.
But he insists: “I certainly won’t be getting in the ring with one of my brothers – my casting bracket would change if I did and I quite like my nose.”
* Emmerdale, ITV1 weekdays, 7.30pm.
