Emmerdale's Bill Ward on Barton drugs row: 'James blames himself'
Emmerdale's James Barton gets a nasty surprise next week as he discovers that his son Pete is dealing drugs.
Pete (Anthony Quinlan) has resorted to the drastic measure to help solve his family's financial crisis, but James is shocked that he would stoop so low.
Here, Bill Ward - who plays James - reveals his thoughts on the Barton crisis and his character's secret feelings for Moira.
Does James realise that Pete is capable of crime too?
"Pete is a good boy, so James is absolutely astonished. Pete has always been James's blue-eyed boy and the sensible one of the family. Whenever James has been away chasing Ross around the country and desperately trying to find him, Pete has always been in charge of the farm and looking after things.
"James is shocked, astonished and hurt by Pete's drug dealing, because he sees it as a betrayal of him. He also feels like he's been a rubbish parent."
So does James blame himself?
"He blames it entirely on himself. Pete says to him, 'The only reason I've been dealing drugs is to make some money for us, because you weren't making any money'. So on lots of levels, James feels that he's let his son down."
But when James first sees the pills, he assumes that they belong to Ross…
"Yes, James walks in to find Pete and Ross arguing. Ross has a bag of pills in his hands and he's trying to get Pete to take one, so as far as James is concerned, it looks very clearly like Ross is to blame. It looks like these are Ross's pills and that he's the one who has been dealing.
"To be fair, it would be totally in character! James isn't surprised by that at all - it ties in with all of the other evidence of Ross being a bad lad over the past 10 years."
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James leads Ross out
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James leads Ross out
What was it like to film the scene where James punches Ross?
"Great fun - it always is, isn't it? A bit of violence in these shows is always quite fun! (Laughs.) We had a fight director there who was brilliant. What was interesting about it was that Ross really has a go at James verbally. Ross says that everything that's going wrong in the family is James's fault. That pricks James's conscience, but it's also a direct attack on his worthiness as a dad and a farmer. That's why James hits him. It's not premeditated."
Has James hit Ross before?
"No, I really don't think that Ross has hit James before, and that's why it comes as such a surprise. It's a shock to everybody. James has been a pretty decent person and he's tried to be a reasonable parent, but in a funny way, I think that's been part of the problem.
"James has tried to reason with Ross over the years, but Ross is very much his own person and doesn't want to be reasoned with - certainly not from someone who's 20 years older and who he thinks is completely out of touch. Ross insults James in front of his entire family, so James snaps. He's never done that before and he's extremely shocked at what he's done."
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James punches Ross
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James punches Ross
Why is Ross trying to force the drugs on Pete?
"Pete has been dealing the drugs but he's never tried them. Ross says to Pete, 'You need to know what you're selling! How do you know what's in them?'"
Does James feel guilty when he hears that Pete is the drug dealer, not Ross?
"He feels a bit bad, but not as bad as you might expect him to feel! Ross has earned that punch. James doesn't hit Ross about the drugs, even though the argument is about the drugs. It's more that Ross is showing him up in front of everybody else, and it's also cumulative - it's 10 years of abuse.
"Ross has been foul to James for years and he is the reason that the last farm went under. There's a backstory which we're discussing at the moment and there's a lot of past evidence where Ross has really wound James up. So that punch has 10 or 15 years of bad behaviour behind it. James thinks that Ross kind of deserves it, regardless of whether he's been selling drugs or not."
Do you think Ross and James can ever heal their rift?
"I would imagine that they could, but it will take quite a bit of time. They've been at loggerheads for such a long time, but I suspect that they also see a lot of themselves in each other. They're both astonishingly stubborn and won't give ground, either of them. In that sense, they're bound to rub up against each other.
"When they say sorry, it's always qualified because there's 10 or 15 years of mistrusting behaviour between them. They don't really trust each other and Ross even says to James that he doesn't really like him. They kind of understand each other, but they don't like each other."
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Ross is knocked to the ground
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Ross is knocked to the ground
Why is that?
"James doesn't like the way that Ross behaves. With Ross, it might just be that he doesn't respect James. As far as Ross is concerned, James is a bit of a failure - he's lost his marriage and his farm and been a pretty rubbish dad. I don't think the relationship is beyond repair, but it's pretty broken at the moment."
Do the Barton boys still feel welcome at Moira's farm?
"They're starting to feel less welcome! If there was a welcome, they've outstayed it and they know that. They've been looking for new places, but the problem is that all of the farms are too expensive and they don't have any money. They're essentially bankrupt. They have a herd, though, so James is trying to join forces with Moira and get the herd to work for them and get back on their feet. They're rearing cattle to sell, so that's how they're going to rebuild their business."
Is there a part of James that enjoys living with the Bartons?
"He enjoys being around Moira, but not when Cain is there! In lots of ways it's a double-edged sword. James Barton is in love with Moira but he won't say anything. If he does say anything, it won't be for a while. As I've said previously, he's carried a torch for Moira for some time but he's also a gentleman. Unless he feels he has no choice or unless he feels emboldened, he certainly wouldn't put Moira in an embarrassing position in front of anybody else.
"Plus if his feelings weren't reciprocated - and he isn't sure if they would be - he would get chucked out. There's too much at stake for him in terms of his family, his business and also his heart. He doesn't want to risk any of those things."
What does James make of Moira and Cain's relationship at the moment?
"Moira is very clearly with Cain. The viewers may see another side of their relationship when Moira's not happy with Cain, but James doesn't see that. He never sees that side of it, so as far as he's concerned, they're very happy together. I suspect James thinks that Moira could do better than Cain, but he sees that they're happy and it's not his place to break them up."
