Oliver Farnworth is currently at the centre of the drama in the Dales as his character John Sugden has been hiding his true persona from everyone in the village. In recent episodes, John has been acting suspicious as he distanced himself from his fiancé Aaron Dingle, and also visited an unknown man at the hospital.

Away from the screen, Oliver grew up in West Yorkshire before he moved to Devon when he was 15. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and went on to land himself a role on Hollyoaks in 2006.

Before he shot to fame with his TV appearances, Oliver dipped his toe into the world of theatre in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Oliver is one of the few actors lucky enough to have landed a regular role on two hit ITV soaps. Fans may remember the actor from his time on rival soap Coronation Street.

He portrayed Andy Carver on the Cobbles from 2014-2017. Andy arrived in Weatherfield under the name Gavin Rodwell, when he was pretending to be Michael’s (Les Dennis) long-lost son.

Andy was forced to come clean about his real identity. But his character was held hostage by Pat Phelan in the basement of an abandoned house, with many residents assuming he was dead.

But Andy made a surprising return to the street seven months later, as the actor had to be sneaked on set for filming, reports The Mirror. Soon after, his character’s life came to a tragic end when he was murdered by Phelan.

Oliver’s character Andy Carver was killed by Pat Phelan (Image: ITV)

Oliver said: “I got to die twice at the hands of Pat Phelan which is a badge of honour.” His return was nominated for Best Shock Twist at the Inside Soap Awards.

Following his departure from Coronation Street, Oliver appeared in ITV’s Endeavour before he returned to the stage in The Girl on The Train, where he met his partner Samantha Womack.

Samantha is renowned for her portrayal of Ronnie Mitchell on EastEnders for over a decade. Samantha was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022 and Oliver opened up about her battle on Loose Women.

He said: “She’s been so kind of strong and determined through it. We were very lucky because they detected quite a high grade of cancer and were able to deal with that quite quickly but she then went through the chemo and the radiotherapy.”

Oliver Farnworth is in a relationship with Samantha Womack(Image: Samantha Womack/Twitter)

In 2024, Oliver returned to soap land as he decided to take on the role of John Sugden, the long-lost brother of Victoria Sugden on Emmerdale.

John recently got engaged to fan favourite Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller). But the mysterious character has been concealing a significant secret from his fiancé and the rest of the village.

Earlier this year, John disposed of Anthony Fox’s dead body which left fans wondering what else he is capable of. And that’s not all as Nate Robinson’s body is at the bottom of a frozen lake, yet to be discovered.

Emmerdale viewers are convinced that John is to blame for the violent act, and are eager to discover more about his true persona after months of lies and deceit.

Recent episodes saw him talking to a mystery patient in hospital, which left fans wondering who it may be. John told the mystery man: “You and me, what are we going to do? Or what am I going to have to do?”

John has been hiding something from his friends and family(Image: ITV)

Viewers flooded the comments on X as they all made their predictions on who the new character may be, and how he will fit into the lives of the villagers. One wrote: “I’m wondering if that’s the real John Sugden?”

More said: “Omg has ‘John’ been an imposter this whole time??? Is that the real John Sugden in the hospital bed?” and “Calling it now he’s the real John in the hospital.”

If viewers are correct with their predictions, the storyline will mirror Oliver’s Coronation Street storyline as a character who is pretending to be someone else. On Instagram, one fan said: “If he’s not the real John Sugden then that’s ridiculous as this guy did the same thing on Corrie.” Another agreed: “I’ve been saying this for weeks haha.”

ITV bosses have disclosed that the forthcoming episodes over the next week will unmask the true John Sugden, revealing the secrets and lies that shroud him. Oliver opened up about the hard-hitting storyline as he said: “The exciting thing is that the viewers find out first before anyone else in the village.

“So it’s kind of like letting them into these big secrets that John’s been harbouring. It’s caused him a lot of stress and anguish having to hide things. I think the fact that the viewers find out first, is going to be really exciting although I’ll see what the backlash is I guess! It was bound to happen at some point, so I’m glad it’s come out now.”