Freeman no longer hoping for Dales return

Former Emmerdale star Ben Freeman has announced that he no longer wishes to return to the soap.

The actor was axed from his long-running role as Scott Windsor on the ITV1 show in December 2007 after being charged with rape in Barbados.

Freeman was finally cleared of any wrongdoing after facing trial in October last year. He later entered talks for a possible Emmerdale comeback, but the discussions failed to come to fruition.

The 29-year-old, who previously appeared in the BBC's Grange Hill, has since landed a role in the musical Dreamboats And Petticoats and hopes to continue with theatre after his contract expires in July.

Speaking to the Liverpool Daily Post, he admitted: "I don't really miss Emmerdale. I was in it for so long - I grew up on it really and you can't stay in something forever.

"I don't really miss it that much - I miss the people, but I still see them anyway. Ask me when I'm out of work. Soap is a closed chapter for now. It's something I've done for an awful long time. There was Grange Hill, a children's version of a soap, so I've done my stint. I'd like to do Billy Flynn from Chicago and Pharaoh in Joseph."

Freeman, who made his first appearance as Scott in 1998, had previously claimed that returning to the soap was a "definite possibility".