BY NATASHA WYNARCZYK

OUR latest Emmerdale hunk, Max Parker, is having to get to grips with fame – and says he keeps being recognised in IKEA.

“For some reason IKEA Emmerdale fans,” says the who plays Victoria Barton’s

Luke Posner.

“It’s always when you’re carrying a toilet seat or something really embarrassing when people want a photo – but I haven’t really been recognised before unless it’s been at a stage door, so it has been different. It’s been nice.”

Max recently relocated from London to Leeds after taking on the role of Luke, who is the brother of Victoria’s rapist, Lee.

“I was trying to commute from London because that’s where I was based, but I’m embracing the whole Leeds life at the minute,” says Luke.

“I’m trying to get out and see more of the city. Leeds is great, and the show is great too. Everyone is a huge family here.”

Max was first seen in Emmerdale last August, when Luke met Victoria (Isabel Hodgins) in the cafeteria at Hotten General Hospital.

He became a more permanent fixture from October, when romance began to blossom between the pair.

Victoria was later shocked to discover that he was the brother of Lee (Kris Mochrie), who raped her after a night out and fathered her child.

In scenes airing this week, Luke and Victoria will grow closer and sleep together, is full of 28-year-old, love interest but it could be too much, too soon for them. “The whole time, there has been this sort of Romeo and Juliet story where they want to be together but they sort of can’t,” says Max.

“This is the week where they do give it a go and are honest about their feelings, but when they’re honest about their feelings they’re obviously honest about the bad feelings as well.

“It’s such a sensitive situation that they are in – and it’s hard to say if Victoria and Luke are in love with each other because there’s so many voices in both of their heads.”

Anxious

Max says he initially auditioned for the role of Jamie Tate (now played by Alexander Lincoln) before he was offered the part of Luke.

“I was told a character was being written for me, but I had a little gap before I started,” says Max. “I sort of knew my storyline, and who my relation was in the village, but I wasn’t allowed to say anything to anybody.

“The writing wasn’t what I expected to come across.

“Luke is quite a contradiction as a character so there’s loads of different avenues. He can either play as really cheeky or really anxious and nervous – so

Emmerdale is a good learning curve. I relate him a lot to myself. He’s a showman but there’s definitely some cogs broken inside and it doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to be a bad guy.

“The main thing is that people warm to Luke and that they really like his character.

“Even though people don’t necessarily agree with him being with Victoria because of what happened in the past, and I think that is the whole point of the story.

“I don’t think you’ve seen all sides of Luke just yet.”

Max has been setting Emmerdale fans’ pulses racing with his toned body, which he often shows off on his Instagram page.

He puts it down to doing a lot of gym workouts, as well as eliminating meat from his diet by going pescatarian.

“I did a lot of theatre, and was used to doing so much cardio that when it came to the transition to TV I got a bit fat,” says Max.

“So I just thought I’d try some different programmes, and a lot of my friends are personal trainers, so it was sort of like a collaboration with them.

“Also, here you have a lot of time off – you’ll be in a lot one week, then the next week you’re not in, so you’ve got to do something to keep sane.”

Some fans have also posted on social media that they are convinced that Luke will get into a love triangle with Victoria and Aaron (Danny Miller).

Aaron was half of the popular pair Robron – with Aaron’s partner Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) leaving Emmerdale after accidentally killing Luke’s brother Lee.

“I think the idea is fun but I think at the minute Luke has only got eyes for Victoria,” says Max.

“A lot of the time in soaps with people who hate each other or have a feud, people are always going to speculate about whether they actually like each other, but I don’t think so.”

Max and Isabel also set tongues wagging when they posed for a photo at the TRIC Awards last week.

After the picture was posted online, several of their followers asked if the pair were dating.

Intrigued

And Max says it has been “brilliant” working with her, as well as Susan Cookson, who plays his mum Wendy Posner.

“Quite a lot of the time we get told to shut up on set because we’re always chatting,” says Max.

“It’s basically like working with two mums because Izzy is like my mum on the show – she’s old before her years.”

Max adds that he would really like more scenes with Emmerdale legend Lisa Riley, who plays Mandy.

“I really enjoy playing comedy scenes,” he says. “I’d love to do a few with Lisa Riley.

“She’s brilliant and she’s great to work with as well.

“I would love to stay in Emmerdale for a long time. I’m intrigued to find out where the writers take the character of Luke.”