At this year’s Inside Soap Awards, Bhasker Patel talked with us about leaving Emmerdale.
In the program, Bhasker portrayed Rishi Sharma, who passed away earlier this year.
The well-liked character died after tumbling down the stairs as he was busy preparing to attend Jai’s (Chris Bisson) and Laurel’s (Charlotte Bellamy) wedding.
Twelve years in the hamlet came to an end in the closing moments, and Bhasker was deeply affected by the outpouring of support from his fans for the departure of his alter persona.
In his own words, “I’ll miss working with the Emmerdale family, they are a lovely group to work with and I learned a lot as well. It gives you a brilliant profile and when Rishi died, the response online made me weep!”
You realize how much people admired my persona and the things I accomplished.
Bhasker reflected on his response to hearing he would be leaving Emmerdale and said:
I had planned to continue there for a few more years before taking a break and moving on to another job. I was really fortunate that the ITV executives always let me work while I was there. I did two plays and a film, as well as many more short films, radio plays, and voiceovers.
I immediately suspected foul play when they stated, “We need a huge narrative, you know Rishi lost Nikhil and Priya and Manpreet. We’ll bring Manpreet to you. I agreed when Jane Hudson stated, “We need a huge plot and we’re going to kill Rishi off.”
They mentioned that he had been working when he was with them in Emmerdale, and he continued, “I felt it was a tremendous compliment because I’ve been a jobbing actor since 1980 and I enjoy working.”
Bhasker informed us about the close relationship he has with his co-stars:
You become a family to them, so you just comply with their requests. In the factory, I once had to remove my clothes, and you did it! On my last day, Laura Shaw remarked, “The thing about you Bhasker, everything we threw at you as Rishi, you did it,” and I believe that’s all you can ask for as an actor.
“Do it and go on, without regrets.”