It’s been rumoured for months now, but ‘Emmerdale’ fans should finally start preparing themselves to say goodbye to Adam Thomas, who is bowing out of the soap early next year.
Back in March, Adam was forced to speak out over rumours he was stepping down from playing Adam Barton in the ITV serial with the hopes of bagging his own show, following his success on ‘I’m A Celebrity’.
While he denied this at the time, months later fresh rumours claimed he would be leaving, when soap bosses reportedly made him choose between staying in ‘Emmerdale’ and landing a lucrative pantomime role over the festive period.
After much speculation, Adam has finally confirmed rumours, saying in a statement: “I’ve had an amazing eight years working on ‘Emmerdale’ and I’ve loved every minute of it. It was a really tough decision to take to leave but I felt that now is the time to move on and challenge myself with some new roles.
“I’d like to thank everyone at ‘Emmerdale’ for both giving me the opportunity to work as part of such a great team and for giving my character Adam Barton some great storylines too.”
‘Emmerdale’ boss Iain MacLeod lamented the fact that the “top bloke and really talented actor” was leaving, but did tease: “He’s given us a lot of notice, so we’ve been able to prepare a huge exit story for him.”
Prior to his appearances in ‘Emmerdale’ and ‘I’m A Celebrity’, Adam was best known for his role as pupil Donte Charles in ‘Waterloo Road’, which he starred in for three years.