Eagle-eyed Emmerdale fans were left stunned on Monday night after they noticed a familiar face from BBC’s Waterloo Road appear on the ITV soap in a rather unexpected place.
Playing the role of Meena Jutla’s prison guard, viewers quickly noticed that actor Dean Smith previously took on the role of the character Phillip Ryan during his younger days.
Sharing their surprise over Meena’s prison warden, fans quickly headed to Twitter to air their thoughts.
One person wrote: “OMG Phil from Waterl”
Another said: “It’s Philip!! #Emmerdale.”
A third shared: “That prison officer was in waterloo road.” While a fourth added: “Phillip ryan from waterloo eh.”
And Emmerdale isn’t Dean’s only stint in an ITV soap, as he also played Andy Wingfield in Coronation Street for three episodes back in 2019.
Philip first appeared in Waterloo Road in series 4, episode 2.
Playing the bumbling and awkward teen, Philip was known as the school’s oddball who was desperate to be included and to be seen as one of the cool kids.
Phil’s mother Melissa was also responsible for his awkward behaviour as she dragged him around the country throughout his childhood.
When they did finally manage to settle down and Phil attended Waterloo Road he quickly grew close to his aunt who came across a lot more mature and reliable than his mother ever could.
(Image: ITV)
But unfortunately, his Aunt Rachel was known as headteacher Miss Mason to everyone else.
Once news got round that he was the nephew to the school headteacher the young teen kissed goodbye to his last remaining shred of street credibility that he had in the school
As well as his Miss Mason storyline, the character was also involed in several hard-hitting scenes which included the assault he endured from Matt Taylor which left him physically and mentally bruised.
Philip’s last appearance was in series five.
According to the latest Emmerdale spoilers later this week, a prison officer slips Meena a chocolate bar into her cell.
He then later sneaks her a newspaper and Meena is grateful, but also pleased to see her charm has paid off.
With the way things are going it looks like the former Waterloo Star would be involved in further scenes.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
