I thought back injury would end my career..So it's great to return to Emmerdale

Emmerdale fans will be on the edge of their seats this week, as April Windsor is dangled over the edge of a multi-storey car park after being kidnapped by ruthless boxing promoter Jade.

- SUE CRAWFORD

But they may also be left gasping by the newly reappeared Michael Parr, playing Ross Barton.

The actor, 38, shows an impressively ripped physique in bareknuckle boxing match scenes.

Yet just two years ago, Michael who took a break from the soap to pursue other roles in the US was left bedridden by a back injury he feared would end his career.

Michael, who first appeared in Emmerdale from 2013 to 2018, tells the Mirror: "If you can't move, you can't act. To go from that to where I am now seems like a miracle."

Michael was working out in the gym when he crushed a nerve and badly injured a disc in his lower back.

He says: "It was terrifying. It was by far the worst pain I've felt in my entire life. The injury froze me and I couldn't move. I was permanently in bed and bent over.

"It even impacted my breathing.

"I thought I was going to be like that for the rest of my life."

Months later, while still recovering from the injury, he was making a film alongside Bollywood A-listers in India when he fell ill in his hotel.

A colleague found him delirious and hallucinating, and he was rushed to hospital with what is thought to have been Legionnaires' disease.