Emmerdale’s Danny Miller reveals ‘hope’ amid dad’s dementia diagnosis

The actor has spoken openly about his dad’s journey

Emmerdale star Danny Miller took to his social media and expressed his “hope” after his dad was diagnosed with dementia.

It was last year when Danny Miller opened up about his dad, Vince Miller, and his heartbreaking dementia diagnosis. Since then, he’s been increasingly open on his social media as he documents the reality of knowing and loving someone with the disease.

Last month, Danny shared an emotionally raw update on his dad’s condition in a video urging others to speak out and be open, after his former Emmerdale co-star Charley Webb had inspired him to do the same.

In the candid video he said: “If you’re still lucky enough to have a relationship with your parents, you still have them around whether they’re together, separated, if they’re still here and you still get to talk to them just cherish that moment.

“One day that might not happen and I’ll tell you now, from my experience, it’ll bl****y hurt. My dad has dementia and I’ve just had to pull over after having a visit for him just to calm down, re evaluate everything.”

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As Danny became teary-eyed, he added that he hopes his message will help those in a similar position going forward. He continued: “I just had a visit with him then and it was quite a poor visit. I saw him in the window asleep as I turned up and I thought, ‘It’s going to be pointless, I know it is’, but I have to see him.”

Taking to his Instagram on Wednesday (April 15), Danny shared a clip from Michael Ball and Our Dementia Choir’s emotional performance of The Impossible Dream.

He gushed: “One of my Dads favourites ‘The Impossible Dream’ – and I hope to meet up with @our_dementia_choir soon and @vicky.mcclure at some point to sing this together”.

The actor gave an update on his dad’s current health during an interview on Good Morning Britain recently. He said: “There’s good days and bad days. There was a time last week where I didn’t know if I’d be sat here because he’s up and down with his general health anyway, but dementia always makes it feel somewhat worse.

“There’s urine infections that suddenly make them more confused, and then his health declined, he looked ill.” Ed Balls then asked if Vince sometimes struggles to remember who Danny is, to which the actor responded: “No, that will break my heart.

“I’m not there yet, we’re not there yet. But it will break my heart.” He added: “It’s tough because it was always, ‘this is my son Danny from Emmerdale’ because he was so proud of me. I struggle to have the same relationship and I feel selfish for that.”