Jonathan Wrather had to sneak around the 'Emmerdale' set with bag over his head to keep his return a secret.
Jonathan Wrather
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).
Appearing on ITV's 'This Morning', he said: "There was so much secrecy surrounding the whole event. I had an alias in the script, half the cast didn't know I was there."
Asked if the crew placed a bag on his head to help sneak him into the studio, he added: "Yeah, I was sneaking in the side entrance to the studios. A lot of people didn't know I was there, they were reading Mark TBA which was my alias in the script.
"No one tweaked who I was for sometime, even cast. It was all kept a secret and I think it's worked out."
The return of Pierce comes after he was convicted of raping Rhona Goskirk - played by Zoe Henry - on their wedding day, but was granted early release.
Explaining his whereabouts, the soap star said: "He's been in prison because two and a half years ago he was convicted for and sent down for raping his wife Rhona. I think he believes he's been rehabilitating himself."
The actor was delighted to be back on the ITV soap opera and to work with his old friends although due to the secrecy of the script, he didn't know what to expect and decided to return on a whim.
He admitted: "It was great, it was like putting on an old pair of slippers coming back to the show. I enjoyed it so much the first time round, and I think coming back was even better somehow. It was just great seeing all those faces.
"When I was first approached in the summer of last year. I was pumping our producer, Jane Hudson about what was gonna be involved. But she couldn't tell me very much because, first of all, I hadn't agreed to do it and, second of all, a lot of it hadn't been scripted.
"It was a bit of a leap of faith but going back my first question was, 'Do I get to work with Zoe Henry, with all the old team?' She said yes so I said, 'Count me in.' "