OUR TRAGIC TV FIRST

John Middleton on how Emmerdale is making history by showing the world through dementia sufferer Ashley’s eyes

Emmerdale makes soap history this week by showing us life from the perspective of dementia sufferer Ashley Thomas. In ground- breaking scenes, we’ll see the stricken ex-clergyman’s condition deteriorate as he walks out of hospital believing he’s a teenager.

Yet while John Middleton, who plays Ashley, hopes the episode will shed some light on what it’s like to have the illness, he admits that screening such a TV first also carries risks.

‘We hope it works,’ says John. ‘It’s a challenging bit of telly, quite experimental. We have some anxiety about how it’ll be received. But the Alzheimer’s Society and Methodist Homes, a charity that offers care for older people, were consulted and were happy. So I hope this’ll give a real insight into what it’s like to have dementia.’

Following a severe mini-stroke, Ashley – who has early-onset vascular dementia – will be transported back in time to when his late mother was terminally ill, and he sets off to see her, convinced she’s still alive.

Still dressed in his pyjamas, Ashley will present a very odd spectacle to bemused passers- by. John explains, ‘ I discovered during research that when people with dementia go on walkabouts they’re convinced they’re doing it for a purpose. Ashley’s behaving eccentrically but can’t work out why people are looking at him curiously.’

He adds, ‘What’s upsetting about the condition is people who know sufferers remembering them as they were. Many of our audience will have known Ashley for 20 years, and this rapid deterioration will affect them in a similar way to how it would if it involved a friend or family member.’

John says Ashley’s deterioration

during the episode will be a seminal moment in the long, loving relationship between the retired vicar and wife Laurel, with whom he has a son and a baby daughter. ‘The huge change for the worse in Ashley is so upsetting for Laurel.’

With Ashley’s condition worsening, he’ll soon be put into a home, says John. ‘ The next chapter will deal with the dilemma that it presents to Laurel, because she doesn’t want to have to do that. There can be an immense amount of guilt for the person taking that step.

‘But, interestingly, their relationship can improve as it’ll be someone else telling them what to do, so it’ll

be out of their hands and what’s left is a loving relationship.’

John says he’s had hugely positive feedback to the story. ‘Many people have told me Emmerdale is telling it accurately. That’s what I hoped for.’ When Ashley dies, John, 63, says he’ll be sad to leave Emmerdale after ten years. ‘I’ve loved working here. But it’s exciting – I couldn’t ask for a better launch-pad for the rest of my career.

‘I’d like to do something that would take me and the audience away from Ashley; I wouldn’t rule out a comedy. Or playing a complete villain!’

John’s many fans will be relishing the prospect.