PARENTS at an East Lancashire school could be forgiven for doing a double take when they saw their children’s new teacher — Butch Dingle.

Paul Ryder, who played the lovable rogue in Emmerdale for six years, has swapped his acting ambitions for the classroom after retraining to be a teacher.

Now he has taken charge of Year 2 children at Cedars Primary School in Blackburn after graduating from his teaching course at Edge Hill University, near Ormskirk.

Paul, who was credited on the soap under the stage name Paul Loughran, played Butch from 1994 to 2000 and has also appeared on numerous other shows including Heartbeat and Blue Murder.

Paul, 43, said: “Teaching is something that I’ve always wanted to do.

“I have four children of my own and always enjoyed teaching them.

“There’s also a lot of teachers in my family so it just seemed like something that I was meant to do.

“I did work placements at The Redeemer CE School in Blackburn and at Christ Church CE School in Colne, before starting at Cedars.”

Paul lives in Colne with his partner and four children and is enjoying his first teaching job at Cedars Infant School, Blackburn’s newest school, in Hawthorn Street.

Paul said: “Cedars is an absolutely fantastic school and I love this job so much.

“I’m very happy here.”

Although Paul continued to act after leaving Emmerdale and was a regular on TV, he now plans to focus on his teaching career.

“I really enjoy drama and I do use bits and bats that I’ve picked up along the way in my teaching.

“It’s a really great way of getting children to engage with stories and that’s what I’m really enthusiastic about.

“I’ve no plans to do any TV acting at the moment — I just want to focus on learning how to become the best teacher I can be.”