When Danny Miller returned to Emmerdale late last year, fans couldn’t believe it as the Dingle clan grew bigger once more – but many were unimpressed with Aaron’s attitude as he arrived in the village.

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Furious with his uncles, cold with his mother and cast aside by all those around him, the Aaron Dingle that was back was not the one viewers knew and loved.

During explosive scenes, Aaron had gotten himself involved with the Italian mafia and stole £30,000 from them, leaving them no choice but to rescue their nephew.

Aaron was less than impressed to be tied up by Cain, and eventually came face to face with Chas (Lucy Pargeter), who he, at the time, blamed for his sister Liv’s death.

Prior to returning to the soap, Miller told RadioTimes.com and other press that viewers would be seeing a “completely different” Aaron.

Danny Miller as Aaron Dingle with dirt on his face looking into the camera
Danny Miller as Aaron Dingle.
ITV

“He’s just off the rails and he’s lost the plot entirely. So, the state of mind is very much that he’s very selfish, quite angry and maybe slightly depressed in a way, I guess, from everything that’s happened. He’s not dealt with the grief [for Liv] very well.

“So the state of mind is that he’s just… he’s angry at everybody, and he’s just constantly looking for a fight.”

But since then, Aaron has overcome a lot and has restored his relationships with his family, and Miller is more than pleased to play the Aaron everyone knows.

Speaking exclusively at the RadioTimes.com Soap Awards 2024 sponsored by Inspired Villages, Miller explained: “Well, [viewers] didn’t like me for the first three or four months. It kind of made me think was I doing a bad job of acting?

“But it wasn’t, it was the story. I can only act out what’s on the page.

“It was a different way of bringing him back in. Obviously, I’ve been away a couple of times, so I think they wanted to bring a different sort of edge to Aaron and a different version of Aaron.

“So it’s nice to play it for a little while, but I’m happy playing the real Aaron.”

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Aaron’s return to the village was nominated for Best Twist at the RadioTimes.com Soap Awards – however, it missed out as Hollyoaks took home the award for its ‘Mercedes’s twins have different dads’ storyline.

But elsewhere on the night, Emmerdale won two awards, with Lisa Riley taking home the trophy for Best Comedy Performance and Chris Chittell being given the Special Recognition Award.

Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Chittell said he was “humbled” to have won.

He said: “I’m humbled. This represents not me, it represents all of us. It represents my family who, bless their cotton socks, I’d be up the road on a Sunday night and come back on a Friday night and pretend to be the father and the husband etc…

“I’m in great company because this is a body of people, a huge body of people, and they are all over the world. A great team, I’m in awe.”