Emmerdale star Reece Dinsdale, who plays abusive father Paul Ashdale, has opened up on the cruel trolling he receives due to his evil character.
He appeared on This Morning on Monday where he spoke to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield ahead of the soap's big stunt this week which will leave four characters fighting for their lives, and at least one dead.
Gambling addict Paul has beaten his son Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson) half to death several times and has been threatening him to force him to keep it a secret.
He has also threatened Lydia Dingle and Liv Flaherty ahead of his wedding to on-off girlfriend, Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley).
But many viewers have been so enraged with his wicked deeds they have got personal when attacking him online, and Reece pointed out he may not behave like Paul in real life, but he will looks like him.
"You do get the usual trolls on Twitter. I’m in the public eye so I expect that," said Reece.
"I don't mind that they hate Paul, that’s great, I’ve done my job, I’m really pleased that people hate him – he’s done such despicable things to his son, so that’s fine. That comes with the territory.’
He continued: "What doesn’t come with the territory is when people are personal about your looks, or whatever about you. I’m Reece Dinsdale and then there’s a character called Paul Ashdale. ‘
"Unfortunately I have to look like Paul Ashdale, and I think people lose themselves sometimes. They don’t realise that things can be said that are hurtful."
Reece also teased the dramatic upcoming stunt, and said the production is "fantastically done".
‘"At the beginning you see three beds and you don’t see who’s in them, but you might see who is visiting those beds," he explained.
"Then by the end of this week the stunt comes to a conclusion, and I think a fourth member of the cast, one of the characters, is wheeled through as well.
"So we’ve got one of four who could meet their end."
Producer Laura Shaw has also teased the truth about Paul will be revealed this week, and added shooting the stunt with social distancing was "no easy task".
She said: "For months now we've been waiting for the appalling, horrible truth about Paul to be exposed and of course, we always knew that we would want that truth to come out in a hugely dramatic and explosive way.
"Shooting a colossal stunt with social distancing is no easy task and it took months of meticulous planning and the whole Emmerdale team, proudly pulling together, to enable us to successfully achieve what are undoubtedly, our most ambitious and spectacular episodes of the last year.
"It's a highly charged, emotional, nail biting, holding-your-breath week of Emmerdale, that promises to leave devastation in its wake and irrevocably change the lives of some of our most loved villagers."
* Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 7pm on ITV with extra episode on Thursdays at 8pm
