With their parents having already established themselves inEmmerdale, children Nathan (Lyndon Ogbourne), Maisie (Alice Coulthard) and Will Wylde (Oscar Lloyd) arrive in the small rural village for their father Mark's (Maxwell Caulfield) lavish party next week. DS caught up with Dales newcomer Lyndon to chat about his role as Nathan, his screen sister, and what's to come for him in the village.
How have you settled in?
"It's been really cool. I'd heard amazing things about the cast and crew before I joined and it's cheesy to say it but it's entirely true - everyone's so warm and welcoming. It's very much been a case of me being thrown in at the deep end with long, all-consuming days. But I think that's the best way to be, though."
How did the role come about?
"It was a long process. Having finished drama school a few years ago and doing a few projects in between since leaving, I landed an audition for this role. The process was completely different to anything I'd auditioned for before. I realised that because of the importance of the family, they were going to take their time in casting the children. I think I had five or six auditions in the end. When they start asking you about your most private of experiences, ones that you've never told anyone in your life, you realise how revealing the whole process is. And you tell them because you want it so much!"
What can you tell us about Nathan?
"The amazing thing about playing Nathan is that it would appear that butter wouldn't melt but he comes into the village and from the off, he tries to charm the knickers off some of the girls. He also gets in with a lot of the more established characters. Through that charm and golden boy status which his family have given him, though, his darker side causes him to take advantage of it. The way in which he goes about his business and screwing over people in his path leaves a lot to be desired."
Where has he been for the last few years?
"He's been studying business in London and, excuse the pun, living a fairly wild lifestyle. His sister Maisie has also been living it up in London with him and that's probably one of the reasons he's so protective over her. Heading out to the countryside makes him think that because he was the king of the manor in London, surely he can do the same in the village. He just wants to take advantage of the fact he's now living in a small, rural village."
You must have jumped at the chance to work with Amanda Donohoe and Maxwell Caulfield?
"Definitely. In the last audition, we had to do screen tests with them and I was just thinking 'Jesus…' Because they're very established actors, and you think that something would come with that status for you to be a bit standoffish with them, but they're such great people. When you see the first episodes of the family together, the reason why there's such a great bond between us on screen is because we all get on so well."
Had you met Alice Coulthard, your screen sister Maisie, before you joined the show?
"Alice and I both live in Hackney in East London and we've both grown up in the same vein of doing some really nice work, while we've also had our times of struggle. When we met up and discovered we were playing brother and sister, we just gelled. But then there's the wrong side of it, in that having someone as beautiful as Alice as your sister and Amanda as your mother is tricky at times!"
What's the relationship like between Nathan and Maisie?
"Maisie's been studying in London like Nathan and we've established a close group of mates. They've lived quite crazy lives in London and the fact she's ended up married to my best mate [Tristan] is a clear sign that as a sibling unit, we're very close. Nathan knows how off-the-wall Maisie can be, so there's a part of him that knows he's the one person who could protect her. There's a real warmth and connection between them."
