Chris Bisson feared his time on 'Emmerdale' was over because his character was too evil.
Chris Bisson
The 41-year-old actor plays Jai Sharma on the soap and has a number of hard storylines including being a drug addict, kidnapping and locking a pregnant woman in a freezer but, although he enjoyed the challenge, he thought it would end with him being written out.
Speaking to Daily Mirror newspaper, he said: "There were very frank and honest conversations with the producer about the character saying 'have we gone too far and is it time to call it a day or do we redeem him?'
"On the trajectory he was on he was unsustainable but we came to the conclusion that actually he wasn't a bad character and that's lovely to play.
"He came in as a much nicer character and he did go off the rails but we have really pulled him back and that's lovely to play. It's also lovely to play a long-term story - I'm really pleased we see his struggle day-to-day. He hits the bottle, he's bought some drugs. It requires a lot of strength for him to hold it together."
Now his character is somewhat redeeming himself after helping ex-drug addict and newcomer to the show Nell Fairfax (Scarlett Archer) kick her substance abuse habit as her backstory reminds him of his tragic relationship with Holly Barton (Sophie Powles).
Chris said: "It's lovely to play a long-term story. Dealing with drugs is important and they are long-term problems and issues for anyone who has ever had them. Nell provides an opportunity to see that Jai still has those moments and it's not going away. He hasn't taken drugs but that vulnerability is always there. Maybe Nell is a good reason for him to hold it together - the best one he has had so far, anyway."
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