Emmerdale star Jay Kontzle has broken his silence on the dramatic storyline which saw Billy and Dawn Fletcher separate.

The pair split up last month as Dawn prioritised her feelings for the villainous Joe Tate, with whom she has had an affair over the past few months.

Dawn’s decision to separate understandably took Billy by surprise, though he will get a greater shock next week as he discovers his wife’s infidelity, with Billy potentially plotting his revenge against the man who ruined his marriage.

Ahead of the dramatic scenes, Kontzle – who has played Billy since 2018 – spoke about his character’s split from Dawn, admitting that it made for good television despite the sad nature of the separation.

“From a viewer’s point of view, I think it’s nice to have a really good bond within the show like a good family unit,” he said. “Over the years there have been really nice moments with all of them as a family, the nice Christmasses and birthdays.

“They have done fun things together and we have seen Clemmie and Lucas, and seen those little lovely moments between the family that will be missed. But it feels like it’s kind of a huge sacrifice for what’s to come.

“Joe’s come in as this nasty character and Dawn’s fallen into that. It’s not what she was about – that’s not what we’ve grown our family into and it’s a shame that that’s lost, but it’s part and parcel of soap [television].”

He added: “Given Dawn’s history, I think it’s one of those things where it’s a personality trait that’s always going to be in her. It was a happy family, but there was something really missing and it’s that taboo that you want.”

“We started around the same time and we’ve got so used to working with each other as well, so it’ll be interesting,” he said of co-star Olivia Bromley, who plays Dawn.

“Storyline wise, it does work and it is interesting for the Tate family. It opens up new avenues for that Tate household. And obviously that dynamic between the Tates and Dingles now starts to open up a little bit.”

Despite admitting that Billy will always harbour hopes of rekindling his relationship with Dawn, Kontzle shared that the best course of action would be to “move on”, adding that “everything happens for a reason”.

“He should take every moment as it comes,” said the actor. “Everything happens for a reason and adversity comes in many forms. I’m going to go all philosophical now, but I feel like things that get put in our way that aren’t our fault get put in our way for a reason.”

Despite outlining that Billy needed to move on from the separation, Kontzle did explain that his character would need a healthy support system to ease him through the difficult period, adding that he “would need to talk”.

“With men’s mental health, realistically not many people actually care and I think that’s one of the things that does need to change,” said the actor. “Billy has been really damaged here and he’s expected to just get on with it.

“That’s one of the things that people struggle with – we do need to talk. He’ll massively struggle with this. There’s a lot of people surrounding Dawn around this situation but not many surrounding Billy. He confides in Mack, but it’s quite brief.

“Everyone knows the situation from Dawn’s point of view, [but they don’t] take into account Billy’s feelings… It’s sometimes the man’s fault, sometimes the woman’s fault, sometimes both have made a decision, but we rarely come to the side of the man and go ‘are you okay?'”