I can certainly understand Frid's pov. On the other hand, it certainly wouldn't have been all that difficult to create another character for him to play. Bramwell was in many ways a clone of Barnabas, but suppose a genuine lookalike to Barnabas showed up in modern-day Collinwood? Someone with a very different kind of personality? Perhaps a mischievous, artistic type? And if Barnabas were somehow indisposed (trapped in Parallel Time, or staked in a secret location, or imprisoned, etc.), this lookalike might be prevailed to impersonate Barnabas!
Okay, t'would be a ripoff of
Prisoner of Zenda, what's your point?