Dominic Brunt only found out he'd been nominated for a National Television Award when Mark Charnock told him this morning.
Dominic Brunt
The NTAs longlist nods were revealed in the early hours (16.10.18), but the 'Emmerdale' actor - who plays Paddy Kirk in the soap - didn't know he was up for Best Serial Drama Performance until his co-star (Marlon Dingle) surprised him with the news.
He wrote on Twitter: "So @markcharnock told me I'd been nominated this morning. (sic)"
Despite playing vet Paddy since 1997, Dominic is yet to have received an NTA nomination until now.
He added: "I've never been nominated before and it's a lovely lovely feeling. Thank you @OfficialNTAs and thanks @emmerdale for writing for me!! x (sic)"
The 48-year-old actor's former Dales co-star Adam Thomas - who played Adam Barton in the ITV soap - was surprised that Dominic had never been up for an NTA before.
He wrote on Twitter: "The fact u have never been nominated baffles me ... ur one of the best sir ... not as good as me but your good congrats x (sic)"
James Moore - who plays Ryan Stocks in the soap - has received a nod in the Best Newcomer category, and admitted Dominic's recognition was "well deserved".
He tweeted: "Congratulations! Very well deserved! (sic)"
Dominic and Lucy Pargeter (Chas Dingle) - who also received an NTA nod in the Serial Drama Performance category - recently played out a heart-wrenching plot which saw their daughter Grace live for just 20 minutes, due to being diagnosed with bilateral renal agenesis.
And the actor admitted he had found it "impossible" to hold back the tears while he was learning his lines, because of the hard-hitting nature of the content.
He said: "It kept taking us by surprise. We read the script and it was almost impossible to read it without bursting into tears all the time, so I kept reading it in private.
"I thought it was just me being soft, but Lucy said the same.
"Situations where you were holding a real baby who was gurgling in front of you just made it all the more real and all the more emotional."
Tagged in Dominic Brunt Lucy Pargeter Mark Charnock