Emmerdale star Bill Ward has explained that his character James Barton is looking for "understanding and attention" when he has a one-night stand with his estranged wife Emma.

James sleeps with Emma next week after a big argument with his current partner Chas Dingle, which is sparked when Chas refuses to tell him the reason for her recent secret conversations with Paddy Kirk.

A paranoid James fears that Chas (Lucy Pargeter) could be having an affair with Paddy, but in reality she has merely been confiding in him about her son Aaron's troubles.

Revealing James's take on the situation, Ward explained: "What happens is that James is having a dreadful time with Chas, who is not speaking to him and is excluding him from her life.

"I wouldn't imagine they are having a lot of sex, they are certainly not talking, and they are not communicating as two people who are going out with each other should. Chas is more worried about Aaron and won't tell him what it is she is worried about, but he can see she is deeply bothered about something she is telling Paddy about."

Emma and James grow closer
© ITV
Emma and James grow closer

He continued: "James confronts Chas one night and she won't tell him what the whole Paddy thing is about, so he walks out on her. It's that night that James and Emma get together. What Emma gives him that night is everything he is not getting from Chas - attention, understanding, conversation and sex.

"What's interesting is that the sex is the last part of that and all of the other things happen first. It's in the heat of the moment, but there is a tenderness there and you can kind of see what they might have had once."

Ward added that James is also mourning for his lost family unit as he and Emma (Gillian Kearney) are currently in the process of getting a divorce.

Emma opens her divorce papers from James
© ITV
Emma and James have been arranging a divorce

Discussing the official separation, he said: "James has sort of had second thoughts about that, so there is a part of him that would like it - like she would - if they were back together. There is a part of him that is still in their relationship and still in an ideal world, so he would like it for his boys to have a healthy and happy family unit. So in his mind that would be a good thing too."

Viewers will see James regret his actions in the cold light of day, but Chas refuses to forgive him when she finds out what happened.