John Middleton takes a bold step as he goes from vicar to villain in C4 soap Hollyoaks. The former Emmerdale legend has spoken about his time on set and his role as Froggy Black.
He played much-loved vicar Ashley Thomas in Emmerdale for 20 years, but now John Middleton has taken on a much darker role as Fraser “Froggy” Black – grandfather to villainess Grace Black and her sister Clare Devine – in Hollyoaks.
After years in Longmere Prison, Froggy is finally out – and heading straight back into the heart of his fractured family. “He does want to bring the family together,” John, 71, says. “For what purpose, that’s yet to be revealed. But he wants to restore the relationship between Clare and Grace.”
One of the highlights of his new role, John says, is working with Tamara Wall and Gemma Bissix, who play Grace and Clare. “They ask me, ‘What do you tell your wife when you go back home?’”, John shares.
“I say, ‘I don’t tell her anything. I sit in a corner, occasionally hugging my knees and rocking backwards and forwards,’” he jokes. “They’re a laugh to work with!”
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Froggy made his first appearance in the Chester-based show in early August, seen behind bars with Tom Cunningham, whom he’d taken under his wing as a financial advisor.
When his granddaughters were arrested for their part in Clare’s husband’s trafficking ring, the reunion was icy. Still, Froggy was determined to win over Grace – despite his hatred for Clare.
Now, John teases that Froggy could blow the village apart. “He knows things, particularly about one particular person,” John says. “The past being revealed would be catastrophic for their present.
He knows something about people he’s most closely working with, which is going to be revealed. He knows a lot of secrets, he knows where all the bodies are buried – quite literally.
His past is possibly murderous, his present is possibly vengeful. Froggy is totally unpredictable. You never know what he’s going to do next.”
With secrets come enemies – but Froggy isn’t fazed. “He’s an incredibly manipulative person so the fact he’s got enemies doesn’t bother him,” John admits. “The fact that he has control over his enemies is essential to him.”
This isn’t John’s first brush with Hollyoaks . In 1997 he popped up as Cindy Cunningham’s doctor – a role he admits he’d forgotten about.
His soap career was then peppered with cameos. In the 1990s he appeared twice in Coronation Street – first as John Hargreaves, the driver who accidentally killed Lisa Duckworth, and later as a hospital consultant. Even Emmerdale wasn’t entirely new to him when he took on Ashley’s role.
“I was a policeman about a year and a half before becoming Ashley,” he says. “But Froggy is a completely different character, which is why I’m doing it.”
John says the whole Hollyoaks team made his transition easy. And though he still struggles with nerves, executive producer Hannah Cheers has assured him he’s in the right place.
“You adjust quickly to it and it was helped because everyone here is lovely,” he says. “My first few scenes, I was nervous. I was completely reassured when I bumped into Hannah and she said, ‘I really love what you’re doing.’ That was a great relief!”
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