‘Beautiful friend for life’: Bradley Riches’ tribute as major Emmerdale star exits

An emotional goodbye (Picture: ITV) As the fall out of Dawn Taylor’s death continues to impact Emmerdale, the absence of actress Olivia Bromley is also being felt behind the scenes. Bradley Riches, who plays Lewis Barton on the ITV soap, too to Instagram to bid a proper farewell to Olivia, who he says has become a ‘friend for life’. Sharing a sweet snap of the two of them, Bradley began the caption: ‘So sad to say goodbye to Dawn. ‘Although Lewis and Dawn didn’t get to interact much on screen, behind the scenes I gained a friend for life – and for that, I’ll always be so grateful. ‘I’m so incredibly proud of you and everything you’ve achieved. You’re such a beautiful person inside and out, and I feel so lucky to have met you. ‘Love you lots. You’ll be missed more than you know!’ Olivia herself responded in the comment section, sharing the love: ‘Ohhhh love you’. Dawn perished in the climax of an enormous week of Emmerdale action, as her ill-fated wedding to Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) reached a horrifying crescendo. As she plotted to escape with Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) following the machinations and manipulations of Caleb Miligan (William Ash) who sought to annihilate Joe’s life, she changed her mind at the very last minute and returned to him. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. It was too little, too late, though. Jimmy King (Nick Miles) crashed his car into their wedding marquee just as they reunited, causing utter carnage and ultimately perishing himself. Though it seemed that Joe and Dawn would survive, with Dawn giving birth to their son, it wasn’t to be, and she joined Jimmy in the great soapland graveyard. It initially seemed that Dawn may survive… (Picture: Mark Bruce/ITV) ‘I’m not going to lie, I’d have preferred her to stay alive!’ Olivia told us in her exclusive exit interview with Metro. ‘I was so excited to go out and do other things and spread my wings. As an actor, after eight years, it’s important to be able to embrace new challenges. ‘But I wouldn’t have killed her off if it was my choice. ‘I’d have loved to have been able to play her in the future. But this is the thing about being an actor; the producers make decisions, they’ve got this great story, and when we talked about it, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s so tragic!’ ‘But also, in a way, it’s exciting because I knew when we were talking about the story that it means I can’t come back – or can I? Who knows? I mean, Graham came back! Maybe I’ll come back as Dawn’s twin or something?’ ‘But it also meant that I was like, ‘Okay, this is a big bang exit, and it means that I can go out and embrace new challenges fully and not have that in the back of my mind.” …but she ultimately passed away (Picture: Mark Bruce/ITV) Speaking on the love she received post-death, and how she’d like her alter-ego to be remembered, Olivia said: ‘I’m just so thankful for the lovely messages and the support that I have got over the years for Dawn. And also, the opportunity to play these stories. ‘But I think, for me, the opportunity to live with this character who came in, who was vulnerable, who was homeless, who was a heroin addict, and she managed to build herself up and get her children back and come out of that and then ended up in the big house, where she made some absolutely catastrophic decisions! But haven’t we all? And I’m proud of Dawn’s trajectory. ‘I know it ended in tragedy, but, in a way, I think it was a really big, fitting end for that character who I’ve just loved playing. ‘I’m so grateful to the audience for supporting and enjoying her. Even when they’ve hated her, and they’ve been so angry, they’ve been engaged with her or been like, ‘God, you’ve made such terrible decisions here!; ‘But I’ve always felt that there’s been so much passion. I’ve been very lucky, and I’m going to miss it so much.’ Deals of the Day The viral LED face mask with over 350 lights that's currently discounted by £100 A friend said I looked 'snatched' – I credit this new Charlotte Tilbury powder Shop MySweetSmile's biggest Bank Holiday offers before they end Back-to-school shopping just got a lot cheaper thanks to Primark The back-to-school essential parents forget every year – and it could cost them Arrow MORE: Emmerdale’s Charley Webb spends ‘romantic’ night with Sheridan Smith Arrow MORE: The end ‘confirmed’ for two more Emmerdale legends as spoilers reveal what happens next Arrow MORE: Why Emmerdale’s Dawn Taylor and Jimmy King died revealed The Soaps Newsletter – Weekly Sign up for exclusive spoilers and interviews, handpicked by our Soaps Editor.