Danny Miller has had a rollercoaster ride on and off-screen since he joined Emmerdale.
The 30-year-old actor first appeared as Aaron Dingle in the village in 2008, having previously appeared in eight episodes of Grange Hill.
Danny was involved in some major storylines, such as his character struggling to accept his sexuality and a controversial assisted suicide plot.
But his first stint lasted less than four years as he decided to bow out to pursue other opportunities, leaving fans devastated at the time.
“It has been an incredibly difficult decision but after three years playing Aaron and much soul-searching, I am eager to explore other roles,” he said.
“I am so grateful to Emmerdale for the opportunity that I have been given and have loved every moment. I will miss everyone enormously but this might not be the last we see of Aaron.”
And Danny was correct.
(Image: INSTAGRAM)
During his time away, Danny played Prince Charming in a Blackpool Cinderella panto while also starring in Lightfields, Jamaica Inn and Scott & Bailey.
But after just two years away it was announced that Danny was returning to Emmerdale in a dramatic U-turn.
Danny has remained on the Yorkshire-based soap ever since and has won multiple British Soap Awards over the years.
But he’s not the only famous face in his family, as his dad Vince Miller is a comedian and compère with 65 years experience in the entertainment industry.
Vince used to be the Manchester United match day host at Old Trafford and was very close friends with two legends of the game – Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton.
He worked in the Old Boardroom for 29 years until a complaint lead to an early retirement.
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Danny is very close to his father and revealed he was always destined to be an entertainer following his dad’s successful career.
“He’s a great compère, very funny and witty, and gets to do loads of things. I’ve been to Fergie’s birthdays and wedding anniversary’s as his guest,” he told The Mirror.
Vince also has a famous brother named Bob Walsh, who was part of the 70s and 80s band The Dooleys.
Bob was the husband of singer Anne Dooley – with the band producing such hits as Wanted and Love of My Life.
Danny and his dad are very close, with the actor posting on Instragram: “This guy is my best friend in the world. Never lets me down, never puts me wrong.
“Can’t say that about a lot of people and not a lot of people can say that about their best mate. Let alone their own Father.”
(Image: INSTAGRAM)
Another very special person in Danny’s life is his fiancée Steph Jones.
The couple actually go way back as they attended the same primary school, but didn’t get together until 2019.
After two years together, Danny proposed to Steph over a romantic candlelit dinner in St Lucia in January this year.
Then just one month later they discovered they were expecting their first child after struggling to conceive for a year, with Steph finding out she was pregnant just days before the engaged couple started IVF treatment.
Danny was actually filming the barn explosion scenes when his fiancée desperately begged him to ring her, but h was unable to pull himself away from the cameras until the end of the long take.
He told OK! magazine : “We were filming the barn explosion storyline. When I saw how many times she had rang me I had a feeling. I thought, either she’s pregnant or something serious is going on.
“Usually my phone is on flight mode but that day I knew she wasn’t feeling good, she hadn’t had her period and we were just about to start the IVF, so I just put it on silent. I had to text her saying I couldn’t speak, but she replied saying ring me but with three Ns and four Es!”
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
When he managed to call Steph, Danny broke down in tears on set when she told him the news over the phone.
They recreated the moment when Danny got home and Steph took a second pregnancy test.
“The next take was long but then luckily they turned the cameras off and I said to the first assistant I was going to make a call. I rang Steph and she was laughing but crying and I just knew,” he added.
“With us being with the IVF consultant the day before, I was in complete shock. I started crying. It’s making me emotional to think about it now. I bought another pregnancy test on the way home, not that she had to prove it, but I just wanted that moment for us.”
Danny and Steph have opened up on their fertility struggles and IVF journey in a video with Your Online Midwife.
In the clip, Steph revealed: “In total, we were trying for just over a year until we found out we had got our positive pregnancy test.
“So we were trying naturally with ovulation kits initially, and we were put on Metformin to help regulate our periods. After six months of using the ovulation kits, tracking our peak days, and not managing to get pregnant we went back to the GP who referred us to a gynaecologist at our local hospital.
“From there she did more investigations to make sure there was no other reason for the infertility and started us on a medication called Clomid to increase progesterone levels and ovulation.”
She continued: “We had that for a few months but it didn’t have much effect, so we were then referred for our IVF. We went to a local clinic called Care Fertility Manchester where I used to work which was lovely, so we knew the staff there. Had some more investigations, consultations, heard about the IVF treatments available that would work best for us.”
“We were about to get our drugs delivered and then we got our positive pregnancy test, so we were very lucky.”
Danny confessed he is nervous about being a first-time dad and “making sure this baby has the best start in life”, while Steph is most nervous about labour as she does not know her own pain threshold.
*Emmerdale airs tonight on ITV at 7pm
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/emmerdale-aaron-actors-famous-dad-24313281