Jonathan Wrather 'thrilled' to return to Emmerdale

Jonathan Wrather "jumped at the chance" to return to \'Emmerdale\'.

The 50-year-old actor - who played Pierce Harris from 2016 until 2017 - is back in the Yorkshire village for the latest whodunit storyline, which follows the murder of Graham Foster (Andrew Scarborough), and has said agreeing to come back to the ITV soap was a "no-brainer".

Asked how it felt to be asked to return, he said: "I was thrilled, as I\'d had such a good time filming here. But they couldn\'t give me too many details about the story at first, so it was a bit of a leap of faith. I asked would I work with Zoe Henry [Rhona Goskirk] again, and when the answer was yes, it was a no-brainer - I jumped at the chance."

Corrie's Joe Duttine: Tim and Abi hooking up would be a disaster

Jonathan had to keep his identity hidden when he was travelling to the set, and even had a fake identity to help hide the shock reveal from his co-stars and crew.

He added: "It\'s been a lot of fun! I\'ve been shuffled in and out of the studio, and my building pass had another name and photo on it. I was Mark Bloomfield, and I was referred to as Mark in the script. I had a slight identity crisis!

"Half the cast didn\'t know I was coming back - we\'ve been keeping this amazing secret, so hopefully it pays off. But all the skulking about has added to the excitement."

Emmerdale's Zoe Henry recalls filming 'horrendous' scene with husband Jeff Hordley

The return of Pierce comes after he was convicted of raping Rhona Goskirk on their wedding day, but was granted early release.

And Jonathan has teased Pierce could stick around to cause more trouble.

When asked by Inside Soaps magazine what\'s in store for Pierce, he said: "Well, I can\'t say much - he\'ll be around for a little bit, and there\'s some very exciting stuff to come. But as always, it\'s not what you expect!"