Emmerdale confirms Aaron's key role in Robert's sly new storyline

Emmerdale star Ryan Hawley has revealed the one person who'll stop his character Robert Sugden from going too far with his current scheming.

Robert is currently on a mission to expand the Sugden family empire – but his partner Aaron Dingle isn't totally on board with his antics.

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Viewers have just seen Robert get his hands on Jimmy King's missing money, outsmarting Sadie King to claim the cash.

Next week's episodes see him score another victory as he arranges to buy The Hide from Gabby and Laurel Thomas.

Speaking about the ongoing story, Ryan explained: "Robert's ambitious and he wants to expand. He's got designs on making something of himself, which is consistent with him all throughout his time, so he sees an opportunity there with Gabby.

"Gabby's business is going under and he reverts to his conniving ways to get to take advantage of the situation."

However, promising that Robert won't be all bad in the coming weeks, he continued: "Aaron anchors Robert with his moral compass. That's good for Robert to have, to keep him in check! Aaron, being Aaron, dissuades Robert from going too far with it."

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Ryan teased that Robert will take The Hide in a new direction after Gabby's unpopular health-focused menu caused the business to flop.

He laughed: "I don't think it will be a health food restaurant, because as we've seen, that's not doing too well! I'm sure he's got an idea up his sleeve, which I know about, but I'm not allowed to say.

"He hopes it will all go well. It's new territory for him and it's part of his ambitions to expand, to grow, and to make something of the Sugden family name as it once was."

Robert's empire-building comes as he faces changes at home, too. Serena Sugden recently joined him and Aaron at Emmerdale Farm, with Jacob and Sarah also moving in earlier this week.

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Ryan added: "I'm loving being the figurehead for that! It's been a lot of fun. There's a great group of people that we're working with. But we seemingly have never-ending bedrooms upstairs, with the amount of characters that we have living there! I'm sure there's like a dozen of us!

"But that's great because we've got so many scenes in our kitchen where it just feels like the house is full. There's a lot going on and everyone's busy, so it's great. That's the heritage of the show – the Sugden farmhouse."

Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.

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