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Bhasker Patel has opened up about his Emmerdale exit during a chat with us at this year’s Inside Soap Awards.
Bhasker played Rishi Sharma in the show, who died earlier this year.
The beloved character was busy getting ready to attend Jai (Chris Bisson) and Laurel’s (Charlotte Bellamy) wedding but ended up falling down the stairs, causing his death.
The final scenes marked an end to 12 years in the village and for Bhasker, he was incredibly moved to receive a massive fan reaction to his alter-ego’s departure.
‘I’ll miss working with the Emmerdale family, they are a great bunch to work with and I learnt a lot as well, it gives you a brilliant profile and when Rishi died, the response online made me cry!’, he told Metro.co.uk.
‘You realise how much people loved my character and what I did.’
Reflecting on his reaction to the news he’d leave Emmerdale, Bhasker said:
‘I thought I would stay there for a couple of years more and get a sabbatical and work elsewhere! While I was there, the ITV bosses always let me work, I did two plays and a film, a lot of other short films, a lot of radio plays and voice overs, I’ve been very lucky.
‘When they told me, we need a big story, you know Rishi lost Nikhil and Priya and Manpreet…they said, we’ll bring Manpreet to you and when they didn’t, I thought, something is afoot here! Jane Hudson said, we need a big story and we’re going to kill Rishi off and I thought, that’s fine.’
He added: ‘They said, you’ve worked while you’ve been with us in Emmerdale and I thought that’s a big compliment, I’ve been a jobbing actor since 1980 and I love working.’
Pondering over the strong connection he had with his co-stars, Bhasker told us:
‘You become a family so when they give you something you just do it. Once I had to strip off in the factory and you just did it! Laura Shaw said on my last day “the thing about you Bhasker, whatever we throwed at you as Rishi, you did it” and I think that’s all, as an actor, that you want.
‘Do it and move on, no regrets.’
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