The surpise return arrived during Aaron Dingle and John Sudgen’s wedding

Ryan Hawley on ITV talk show Lorraine(Image: ITV)

Emmerdale star Ryan Hawley has revealed how he kept Robert Sugden’s ‘indefinite’ return a secret following his shock comeback.

Joining the show back in 2014, Ryan’s character Robert departed the ITV soap back in 2019 when he was arrested and sentenced to prison for the death of Lee Posner.

Robert’s return arrived at his former husband Aaron Dingle’s wedding to John Sudgen, dramatically stopping the ceremony in its tracks.

During his initial stint on the programme, fans loved Robert’s relationship with Aaron, with fans referring to them as ‘Robron’.

With Robert back, it remains to be seen if he reunites with Aaron, who is unaware that John accidentally killed Nate Robinson and hid his body in the lake.

Appearing on Thursday’s (May 29) edition of Lorraine, Ryan shined a light on how his Emmerdale comeback came to fruition.

“A lot of work has gone into it. All the scripts and the amount of people involved in it. We had our driver Howard bring me into a secret entrance to avoid all of the fans at the gates.

Robert Sugden made his unexpected return to Emmerdale(Image: ITV)

“I’d turn up on set and people didn’t even know it was me who was back… I was Marco in the script,” he said.

Asked about the reaction to him being back, Ryan told Lorraine: “That was the moment we were all hoping for. A lot of work went into it, not just in the script and the logistics…. It was a great payoff.

“It’s been amazing, last night was the wedding. A lot of my first scenes were at the wedding. Everyone came up, gave me a big hug and were really excited to see me. It’s like being around friends and family.”

After leaving Emmerdale, Robert went on to star in Channel 5 drama All Creatures Great and Small and BBC hospital soap Casualty.

“It was hard to go, it was an emotional moment when I left. I made the decision and I left. It’s been a long time, six years and I’m like ‘this is amazing’. I almost forgot about it,” he noted.

When it comes to what led him to going back to his former workplace, Ryan revealed his co-star Danny Miller had a big role to play.

He explained: “I got a call from Danny being like ‘how do you feel about coming back’, he asked me a few times and Emmerdale asked me a few times.