Emmerdale fans have been introduced to a new character at Home Farm - and he's quickly caught the eye of Gabby Thomas. Viewers of the ITV soap have seen the mum-of-one and Dawn Fletcher vying to be Kim Tate's next protégé but in order to have time for work, they have been interviewing candidates to look after their children.
In true Kim Tate-style, the nanny interviews at Home Farm are a formal affair but despite Billy Fletcher's reassurance, Dawn’s still uncomfortable with someone else looking after their kids. That is, however, until Nicky walked in.
Both Dawn and Gabby are both impressed with Nicky, a handsome male nanny, and when another candidate, Samantha, declines the job, Gabby's delighted to offer it to Nicky. And he quickly accepts and agrees to meet the children - Gabby's son Thomas, Dawn's son Lucas and Clemmie who she and husband Billy have since taken in.
Nicky is being played by actor Lewis Cope who previously told the Manchester Evening News and other press about his character: "Nicky's a great character. He's very relatable, likeable, and I'm just having fun with him."
Revealing the background of his character, which helped bag him the job at Home Farm, Lewis said: "When Nicky was 16 his mam passed away, and he's the oldest of six - and he's basically looked after the kids since they were growing up. So he had a lot of experience with kids, and that's what got him into nannying.
"But I think not everyone was on board in the interview [at Home Farm], because Dawn obviously has a big problem with leaving the kids, so I think she was very particular on the type of person she wanted; she was the hardest to win over."
And Emmerdale viewers may have seen Nicky on their screens before. Sharing his work before appearing in Emmerdale, Lewis told us: "I've done bits of theatre and bits of TV as well, I did Vera for ITV, I've done Doctors, done some stuff on CBBC as well. I've done West Ends - plays, musicals. I did Billy Elliott when I was a child, and then recently I did Witness for the Prosecution."
He also appeared alongside former Emmerdale star in the play, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. "I worked with Bill Ward [who played James Barton in the ITV soap] doing a UK tour," he revealed. "We finished that in March. He’s a lovely guy and I had a good six months touring with him.”
And sharing the moment he found out about his new role on Emmerdale, the actor sweetly shared: "I was on set filming a scene for something that's coming out on ITV, Mrs Sidhu Investigates. I was on set and I got the call .I was trying to ring everyone and nobody answered. I think a couple of hours later I got through to my friend John who answered the phone and I was like 'alright okay, I'll tell you then'."
There will also be an important viewers as lewis makes his debut as Nicky. Asked whether he's watched the soap himself and if his family are fans, he said: "It is a massive show, my family have watched it before and my nanny loves it. So, it is nice that my nanny will be able to watch it and, yeah, I've watched it before."
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